Hatter's Hobby
by Weasley430
Summary: Hatter finds himself at auditions for a community theater musical. Will his years of mastering his skills and conman abilities in Wonderland finally pay off in the Oyster World?
1. The Audition

Hatter's Hobby

**A/N:**

**Okay, this story idea came to me the other night during the final dress rehearsal of my school's musical **_**Camelot. **_**It suddenly stuck me that Hatter probably would be actually rather good in the theatre with his amazing con man abilities and façade. Then it struck me that he would be PERFECT as one of the characters in **_**Camelot, **_**which inspired this story. I don't know yet if it will be a oneshot or multiple chapters…it'll depend on the reviews. It'll also depend on how well Outlaws of Alaria is going on fictionpress and such. So if you wanna read more don't forget to review!**

**Enough jibber-jabber….on with the show!**

**Disclaimer: I do take out exact quotes from the musical Camelot. I am either sitting here reading what I am writing from the script itself or am going by my own memory of certain scenes they do not belong to me. Camelot was written by Alan Jay Lerner and Fredrick Lowe.**

Hatter could feel his stomach turn inside out, as the shadows on the other side of the partially lit curtain began to move around. As they did, the shaking lights of each movement they made forced the light that shone through the little sliver of curtain to dance across Hatter's black boots as he stood behind it. He shifted from side to side nervously as he heard the two occupant on the opposite side of the curtain begin their well-practiced dialogue.

He wished that he had a hat, or anything to occupy his hands while he waited, instead he messed with the collar of his black tunic and made sure his red vest was straight. Hatter's heart was practically beating out of his chest. He wasn't ready for this. He didn't remember anything he had practiced for the last three months! Hatter was about to go out there and make a complete and total fool of himself in front of hundreds of people and…Alice. He shuddered. After all of her encouragement, all of her support and all of her help, what would she think when he walked up there and stood in the bright lights, mouth agape like a complete idiot? She just assumed that he would be good at this with his conman skills and ability to put up a front. What she didn't seem to realize was that he developed those skills to survive. Sure, he used them in his tea shop as well…but this was entirely different. This time, Hatter was going to recite lines and _sing _in front of all those people. This was much different from survival or giving his customers a rememberable experience. How did he get himself into this mess?

Three months earlier…

The knock came as a surprise to Hatter, who had been on his computer in his office. He was doing the days finances because it was about an hour before closing. The small teashop he owned was doing quite well if Hatter said so himself. He bought it from the owner shortly after taking manager position and with his guidance and amazing talent with tea, turned it into a very successful business.

Usually, an hour before closing was a quiet time in the teashop. Hatter liked to use that time to do bills and other paperwork so he could help clean up quickly by the time closing rolled around. Because of this, Hatter told him employees who took the evening shift he would rather not be disturbed unless it was absolutely necessary.

That was why Hatter was so surprised to get a knock on his door. The two employees working that evening's shift often never disturbed him when asked; they were usually the ones who never disturbed him—trying to handle situations themselves. They sympathized with how hard Hatter worked. Besides, they wanted to go home at a reasonable hour instead of having to stay later to clean up while Hatter did paperwork instead of helping them.

"Yeah?" Hatter called as the door creaked open slightly, revealing his newest employee, Jill behind it.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, David." Jill began as he waved her in. "But there's a woman out front who wants to hang something up in the shop."

Hatter raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean _hang something up in the shop_?"

Jill shrugged as Hatter leaned back against his chair, eyebrow still raised. "I dunno." She said, "I think it's some type of advertisement or something."

Hatter felt a twinge of annoyance. Jill—even though she hadn't been working at the tea shop long should have learned at that point his policy on advertisements in his shop. It wasn't that he minded advertisements, he just didn't want them littering his shop. He had instructed all of his employees to hear what the advertisement was but politely decline and suggest another shop on the block because he didn't want to hear the sales pitch. His thoughts must have been clearly written upon his face, for Jill shot her hands up, as if in surrender.

"Hey," she said, "I told her to try the shop next door but she won't listen. Actually, she wouldn't even tell me what it is she wants us to advertise. She wants to talk to you personally."

Hatter sighed deeply. "Well then, send her in." There was no going around this one sadly.

Moments later a very…interesting looking woman stepped into his office. She was a shorter woman, dressed in a dark purple suit and carried a black briefcase. Her mousy brown hair was a mess and stood out in random places, as if she had taken her hand and rubbed viciously around her scalp. Her hazel eyes shown in a mischievous yet on a mission-like way underneath her 60's style glasses. For a split moment, Hatter thought it was Owl until she stepped forward confidently with her hand outstretched for him to shake.

"You're the owner of this establishment I presume."

Hatter nodded. Slightly perplexed by both her appearance and her confidence, he took her hand. "I'm David Hatter."

"Katherine Matthews." The woman replied. She had a very strong grip for a woman of her size.

"Now what can I do for you Ms. Matthews?" Hatter asked letter go of her hand and gesturing her towards the couch facing his desk. As she sat down, she opened her briefcase.

"Call me Katherine if you please. I'm a director for Loener Community Theatre," Katherine began pulling out a piece of paper. "We're doing a production of the musical _Camelot _and auditions are this weekend. I'm going from shop to shop asking them to hang up these pamphlets promoting auditions." She thrust the paper towards Hatter, who took it with a doubtful expression.

"Camelot?" He asked taking the pamphlet. It was made on a computer in black and white. The words _Camelot Auditions_ were written in big bold letters with what he assumed was the address with that weekends dates under it. At the very bottom of the paper, was a well drawn picture of a sword.

Katherine nodded. "It's a musical that tells the Arthurian Legend."

Hatter looked at her blankly, he had no idea what she was talking about. So, Katherine began to spin the tale of timid King Arthur, the new king of Camelot and his wife Guenevere as they prepared for their peaceful rule and the Round Table, where knights were to "fight for right" in a civilized manner. How Lancelot, Prince of France came to fight with the table, but ended up falling in love with Guenevere, and she with him. By the time Mordred—Arthur's bastard son, vowed on revenge against his father, showed up, the two were in a full-fledged affair that the villainous son would use to his advantage to take down Camelot.

Hatter found himself quite intrigued by the story. The very few books and pleasures that made their way into Wonderland were nothing like that and the depth of the story was truly amazing. "Well?" she asked when she was finished. "Will you put the pamphlets up in your shop?"

He cleared his throat. "I would love to help you." Hatter said still looking at the pamphlet. "However, I do have a policy here that won't allow me to put these up in my shop."

Katherine's bright face grew dark in disappointment. She sighed heavily and reached for the pamphlet in Hatter's hand. "I see. Well I'm sorry to have disturbed you Mr. Hatter." She said in a tone that told Hatter that she had to have said that sentence had been repeated many times before. He did actually want to help her, it sounded like it could be a good show and it wasn't an advertisement for something stupid. In Hatter's words it was an advertisement to invite people to come and try to be apart of something that could be quite fun. If he couldn't help her…maybe Alice could!

"But," Hatter said flashing his dimples, standing up and walking to the front of his desk. "My fiancée works at a dojo nearby. I'll show this to her and get back to you on it, yeah?"

He watched as the woman's face lit up. It was obvious to him that while she had heard the _I'm sorry we can't help you, _spiel she had yet to hear something along the lines of _I'm sorry we can't help you but let me ask someone who may be able to. _

"That would be great!" She smiled brightly. He watched in amusement as she fumbled with her briefcase excitedly. "And," Katherine said as she stood up and shook Hatter's hand. "Your more than welcome to come to auditions, if not to actually audition but to come and watch."

Hatter raised an eyebrow, unaware that his interest in the story had been caught by the very excited woman in front of him. Katherine smiled knowingly as she turned away from him and out of his office.

Throughout the rest of the day, Hatter found himself staring at the little piece of paper as he worked. What was it that interested him so much about it? Plenty of Oyster stories and plays had found their way into Wonderland, he had soaked it all in like a sponge in the Great Library but why, was this particular story, fixating him so?

That Saturday, Hatter found himself walking into the brick theater with a sigh. It wasn't that he wanted to come and watch, or at least that was what he was stubbornly telling himself. It wasn't that he was all that interested in the play. The reason he was there at all was because he was invited to come and watch and it would have been quite rude to pass up in the invitation. Besides, Alice had told him too.

He smiled as he leaned back into the theater seat and remembered the conversation. Hatter had come home from the long day to find Alice already waiting for him, as usual. Their evening continued as it usually did, talking about their days while Hatter made them dinner—because he would only let Alice cook if hell was freezing over—it wasn't until Hatter mentioned Katherine Matthews and what she wanted did things change over the course of that evening. Hatter had pulled out the already well looked at pamphlet and handed it to her. Alice took it, asked why this was different from every other advertisement that floated into his shop. Hatter told her what he thought, and as he did he watched as a small smile floated across her lips. She said she would take it to the dojo the next day. When Hatter brought up—simply in passing, that Katherine had invited him to come and watch auditions, Alice urged him to go. She told him it was obvious he was interested in the story, despite his denials and she thought it would be good for him to do something different for a change. When he began to protest about needing to be at the shop, she had cut him off quickly, stating that she herself would manage until he got back, even though the next day she had a tournament at the dojo and could use that time for practice.

For the rest of the evening, as well as the week, Hatter spent much of his free time looking up Arthurian Legends. Alice did some research with him, always with a smirk on her face when he claimed he wasn't that interested, he simply wanted to know what it was about. Throughout their research Hatter learned one thing, there were many versions and most of them were very messed up, crawling with incest, in some versions intentional and in some versions not. Other versions were completely clean of incest and simply filled with detailed measures of who in the story they were related to without knowing they were. Hatter wondered which one the musical _Camelot_ was based on.

Hatter was surprised to find as many people in the theater as he did. The room was about half full, people sitting in their seats looking over pieces of paper, Hatter assumed was something Camelot related. He took off his hat absentmindedly as he walked down the isle, not sure what to do. Katherine, who was writing things down at the end of the stage had looked up when he had walked through the door. She smiled and waved him in.

"I'm glad you came David!" Katherine called as he approached. She was wearing an outfit quite like the one he had first met her in, only this time, she had a plastic sword at her hilt.

"Yeah," Hatter said, flashing his dimples at her. "Well you invited me to come watch and I thought it would be rude to pass on the invitation."

Katherine's smile deepened as she tapped on the piece of paper she was holding with her pencil. "Thanks to you and your fiancée it seems more people decided to show up today. Some I've never seen before!" Hatter honestly doubted that this many people visited the dojo but he wasn't going to say anything, Katherine looked too excited and happy. He smiled at her.

"Are you sure you don't want to audition?" She asked hopefully. "It can't hurt."

"Nah, you don't want an inexperienced sod like me mucking up your performance." Hatter said.

"I've been into your shop before and have seen the way you work with your customers." Katherine said, her eyebrow arching. "You wouldn't muck up the performance."

Hatter shrugged. Muttering something about that he should be sitting down he walked over to the seats. Taking off his brown leather jacket, he draped it along the back of one and sat down. A few moments later he felt a tap on his shoulder. A young man had sat next to him. He looked fresh out of college and his green eyes shone excitedly as he held his hand out.

He and Hatter exchanged greetings, which Hatter still found to be a strange Oyster custom. Hatter learned that the man was named Adam White and he was a former student of the University of Michigan as a Theater Major. Adam claimed that he was trying to get to Broadway but as of now he would have to just deal with Community Theater, which he didn't mind at all. Adam loved the musical Camelot and was planning to audition for King Arthur.

"Who are you auditioning for?" Adam asked.

Hatter shook his head. "No one. I've never done anything like this before and just came to watch."

Adam smiled at him. "Well, there is no time like the present right? Why _not_ go for it? It wouldn't hurt?"

Hatter shook his head again, before he could reply however, Katherine stood up on the stage and the entire theater grew silent.

"First off," Katherine said as she scanned the room. "I want to thank everyone for coming out today. We're going to get started here soon but I want to explain a few things first. Today we're auditioning for four of the main characters and only those main characters. Tomorrow we will be holding auditions for the others and any other minor part. I have a list here of what people are going to audition for and when I call your name I want you to read the dialogue, and I'll either help out or get someone else to help out if the scene requires more than one character. If I think you've done well on the first reading, as well as the song assigned I may ask you to read another scene. Sound good everyone?"

The room murmured in agreement, as Katherine called the first name on the list. As Hatter watched, he discovered that they were doing King Arthur first. The dialogue that Katherine had assigned for the character was a monologue about Arthur, who had just discovered Lancelot and Guenevere's affair, and his battle with the decision wheatear to convict them of adultery, as a proper King should or to simply ignore the situation and let them be happy, because he loved them and even though he was a king, he was also a man and loved both Guenevere and Lancelot dearly. Some were rather good, others not so much. The song Arthur had to sing, _I Wonder What the King is Doing Tonight? _Was quite funny and made Hatter laugh, especially when whoever was audition for Arthur would attempt to make a terrified expression. A few people got to read on with a few volunteers, usually someone who wanted Lancelot or Guenevere.

When it was Adam's turn, Hatter was amazed. While he read, Hatter noticed that Adam didn't remain in one place. He actually became Arthur, or as close enough to it as he could, and moved around as if he was in great distress until Arthur came to the decision of ignoring the situation. As Arthur came to this realization, Adam remained in the middle of the stage, looking straight ahead, only looking down a moment to get the next line and seemed completely engrossed in it. He had _become _King Arthur.

When Adam began the singing portion of his audition, Hatter was not as amused as he had been before but rather fearful for Arthur. He had not realized it, but the song basically said that Arthur was terrified of being King and getting to meet his new bride Guenevere and wondered if his subjects realized it. When Adam finished, Hatter joined the entire theater in a massive round of applause. It wasn't very surprising when Katherine announced that she was going to have him read another scene, only it wasn't going to be with Lancelot or Guenevere but rather, Mordred.

"I want to see you banter with a character that is completely different from the others." She said. A few people, who Hatter assumed were auditioning for the part, raised their hands. To Hatter's, and everyone's surprise. Katherine ignored them and called out a name.

"David Hatter. Do you think you could read Mordred for me?"

In surprise, Hatter almost fell out of his seat, as everyone in the theater turned to look at him. "Why me?" Hatter asked his stomach in a knot. "Why not use someone actually auditioning? Or you could read it yourself, yeah?"

To his surprise, Katherine smiled, "Because I want to use you right now and the scene requires three people, I can't play both of them. Besides, I don't want you to get bored just sitting there _watching_. Come on, it'll be fun."

"Yeah, David." Adam called to him waving him down. "It'll really be helping me out!"

Hatter sighed and slowly got up. His ears grew red as he walked down the isle, all eyes on him. He didn't like the attention. When he got up on the stage, he could see everyone's, especially those who he assumed were auditioning for Mordred, stony glares.

"Here is the scene." Katherine said handing him a piece of paper. "It's the scene where Mordred—Arthur's bastard son—is introduced. He was just spying on Lancelot and Guenevere together and is fixated on revenge. Arthur will come in and I want you to read the lines as you would if you were auditioning, you know, to allow Adam to get fully into character. I will read Pelly's lines for now. Just have fun with it David." She smiled as she and Adam walked off the stage, leaving Hatter alone.

Hatter shrugged. Looking down at the piece of paper he noticed that he was the first to speak. He cleared his throat. He wasn't auditioning anyway, he was just helping them out, why not have fun with it?

"Camelot_,_" He read, thickening his accent and arching an eyebrow, looking around the empty stage in disgust. "Ah me, the chain of wedlock that is so heavy it takes two to carry it." His Cupid's bow mouth arched into a wicked smile as he looked over his shoulder, where Hatter imagined that Lancelot and Guenevere had just walked off together. "Sometimes three. You _poor things_. Perhaps, we can arrange a little rondaveau for you."

Hatter backed up as Adam and Katherine walked on stage, pretending to hide, as he smiled even more devilishly. "Lance! Lance! I have it solved!" Adam read before stopping and looking around a quite a perplexed manner. "Oh," He said turning around to face Katherine. "I thought Lance was here Pelly?"

Hatter stepped forward waving his hand in a flourish. This, was the part where he could hone his skills of years in Wonderland playing both sides of the court and using his conman abilities. He was going to lay it on quite thick, just for fun of course. "He just left your Majesty," Hatter read, taking a step toward them. "He was here with the Queen." It felt odd for him to say 'Queen', when not referring to the Queen of Hearts.

He was quite perplexed for a moment, as Katherine stepped forward. "_You_ are not a member of this court!" She snapped, her voice had gone an octave lower than usual and she was using an accent shrilly, quite different from her usual voice. "How _dare _you enter these courts unannounced!"

"But I _was _announced Milord." Hatter said taking a step toward Katherine slyly. "Did the Chamberlin not say that there was a young man from Scotland who wished to bring you greetings?" Mordred was from Scotland? Hatter wondered to himself where that actually was. He was still learning the places in the United States, and England of course just in case he ran into someone who thought his Wonderlandian Accent was a Yorkshire one as many people seemed to do. He wondered for a moment, if Scotland used a different accent and if he should do it for this. What was he thinking? It wasn't like he was _actually _auditioning. This was just for fun, and to help Adam out.

Katherine glared at him. Reaching back to pull out the plastic sword that was at her hilt. "By Jove, what impertinence! He shall be taught a lesson!" Pulling out the sword she lunged herself at Hatter.

Usually, in an actual situation like this, Hatter would have taken her down easily. He may not have been much in a fight with only his sledgehammer fist to help him out, but he could have easily taken down a tiny woman with a plastic sword, and really hurt her. He almost reacted on instinct but stopped himself before he could. What would Mordred do in this situation? From what he had read on Arthurian Legend, this character was all talk and no action, a coward. The type of people Hatter despised. His next line seemed to agree with the statements on the internet however, so he backed up as if he were terrified. "Keep away! Don't touch me! I'm unarmed!"

"Call the guard Pelly." Adam said calmly. "And have this young _ass _thrown out."

Hatter collected himself, as he believed Mordred would. Standing up straight, while avoiding the tip of the plastic sword, he took a step toward Adam. "That's not a very kind way to treat the son of _Queen Morgause_."

He smiled devilishly again, as Adam's face grew white and he looked at him with wide eyes. Waving his hand in a flourish again, Hatter bowed low. "Yes, your Majesty. I am _Mordred_."

Adam grabbed Katherine's shoulder, who stepped back perplexed. "Wait Pelly. Mordred?"

Hatter's dimpled devilish smile, grew bigger. Bowing lower he said, "Your Majesty." Hatter hated bowing. Back in Wonderland, it had reminded him of his undermining authority and when he had an audience with the Queen of Hearts, it reminded him what he had been doing. He would bow now of course, he was just reading this part to help Adam out. And for fun.

"Leave us Pelly." Adam whispered. As he stared at Hatter awestruck.

He watched as Katherine glared at him. Hatter didn't move. "I will be nearby if you need me Arthur." Katherine growled before turning on her heel and walking off the stage back to her seat.

For a moment, Hatter thought they were done. The past auditions that he had seen that day usually contained only a few minutes of people talking to one another and then that was it. This seemed to be dragging on forever. They had to be done soon. He watched as Katherine pulled out her notebook and began writing furiously. She arched her eyebrow and stared at Hatter, waiting for him to continue.

He looked down at the paper, before rising from his bowing position. "I bring you greetings your Majesty, from Queen Morgause, and King Lot." Hatter watched as Adam took a hesitant step toward him, as if he were toxic but intriguing at the same time. Hatter couldn't help but think to himself that it was a expression that he had seen many times, on his former partner, Dormie.

"I trust your mother is well Mordred?"

"The queen is splendid thank you." Hatter replied. "As witchy as ever. Still beautiful, which of course she would be with all her magic and sorcery. I've been wandering about the castle, I hope you don't mind." He paused a moment, looking around the empty stage, the grim look of disgust on his face apparent, before turning to face Adam again, his expression of disgust gone and a dimpled smile in it's place. Hatter knew this smile looked fake, but he didn't care. He thought Mordred, would have this expression on his face. "It's quite grand really." He lied. "I love the way you've mixed English with French. _Very _tasteful."

"And King Lot?"

Hatter could feel his heart sink. He had no idea who this King Lot was from what he read. He assumed he was the husband of Morgause and step father of Mordred, but other than that, he knew nothing. Hatter's own father came into his mind. He hated the man. His father had been a Tea Addict from the very start of Hatter's birth, which was saying a lot for when Hatter had been born, the Casino had just opened. Hatter's father had always been quite violent with him and his mother and when Hatter was only ten, he had left them to assist the Queen, in what way Hatter didn't know, but it cost him dear. The loss of her husband drew Hatter's mother to the brink of insanity, and she poisoned herself less than a year later, leaving Hatter homeless and motherless. Hatter had spent the next five years of his life searching for his useless father, only to find out he had been beheaded for trying to steal Tea from the Casino a week after he had abandoned them.

"The king?" Hatter read off of the paper, quite surprised to hear his voice sounding so gravelly and dark. "Never happier. He was so,_ delighted _I left." Hatter paused for a moment. He was letting his own resentment and anger to his father show, couldn't let that happen. It would ruin Adam's audition. Composing himself, Hatter continued in a much more normal voice. "He's always hated me you know, do you know what he did to me once? Mother had a youth potion, that took off ten years. When I was nine, he gave it to me to make me minus one. I kept asking Mother _why _he despised me so and she said that—"

"—What brings you to Camelot, Mordred?"

"A desire of, _blood_,your Majesty." Hatter read. "I have quite a family here you know, my dear Aunt, Morgan Le Fay whom I never seen."

"Nor has anyone else, the castle where she and her court reside is quite invisible. It seems a poor reason to make such a long journey."

"Then there's, _you, _your Majesty." Hatter read, stepping toward Adam, his eyebrow arching ever so slightly. "As I was saying, I kept asking Mother why King Lot despised me so and one day not long ago she told me the marvelous news. He's not my father." He watched as Adam turned to him in total shock mouth agape, Hatter's smirk grew into another devilish grin as he continued, laying the theatrics on thick. "How once, when she was visiting England she met an attractive young man named, _Arthur, _invited him into her room and bewitched him for the night. Is that not the way the story goes, _your Majesty_?"

"Yes, that's the way the story goes Mordred."

Hatter paused. His eyebrows cocked, he smirked towards the audience opening his mouth to speak again as he did. Before he could, Katherine shot her hand up in the air.

"Thank you, David." She smiled as the theater thundered in applause. A wave of relief washed over him. Hatter hadn't realized how nervous he had been until it was over—even if it was only for fun. He felt a strong hand clasp his shoulder.

"That was amazing!" Adam whispered into his ear as they stepped off the stage and resumed their seats. "You're a natural! Are you sure you have never done anything like this?"

Hatter shook his head as they watched the next Arthur stand up to audition. They watched as Katherine finished her notes and gave him the signal to start. To say that he had never done anything like this was an obvious lie. In order to survive back in Wonderland, he had to do something quite similar to this, but it hadn't been fun. In fact, before he had gotten good at it, it had been quite scary. He'd rather not go into detail if could help it and was rather relieved as Adam turned his attention to the person auditioning.

The new Arthur auditioning finished quickly. Up on the stage, he seemed intimidated and stuttered over the lines. Katherine stopped him before he even had begun to sing and it was quite obvious that he wasn't going to get to practice banter as Adam had done.

As the poor soul slinked off the stage sadly, Katherine stood up and announced that was everyone who was auditioning for Arthur that had signed up. They were going to move on to Guenevere, then Lancelot and then Mordred.

The rest of auditions ran quickly. Hatter found most of the Gueneveres to be rather talented. They were quite convincing and had beautiful singing voices. However, only six of them seemed to impress Katherine enough to continue the audition with someone else. Lancelot was about the same. When the Mordred auditions began to start, Hatter was quite surprised when he realized that his reading with Adam was _exactly _the same as the Mordred audition. Adam helped with some of the auditions as did a few of the others who auditioned for Arthur. The only thing different was that Katherine would tell them to stop right after the bit about King Lot hating Mordred. Then they would sing the song _The Seven Deadly Virtues_.

Hatter was glad he hadn't actually auditioned. Singing was his not his forte because although he thoroughly enjoyed music, Hatter had never been able to sing much. He had been worried about more important things, like surviving. Hatter also noticed, as the auditions drew to a close, that only one of the auditioning Mordreds was asked to read another scene with someone who offered to be a character named Morgan Le Fay.

When it was over, Katherine stood up again and thanked everyone for coming but that was it for the day. Sunday, they would be holding auditions for Pelly, Morgan Le Fay and Dinaden as well as the chorus and the minor roles would be cast based on those in the chorus. "If you would like to redo your audition," Katherine said as people began to flutter about "I suggest you come tomorrow for last minute auditions which will take place at the very end."

As the theater began to disperse, Hatter picked up his leather jacket and pulled it on. A few people approached him as they passed and told him that they enjoyed his reading very much. Hatter could only smile and thank them and then when asked why he wasn't auditioning himself explained that he had been invited to come watch by Katherine and felt it would have been rude not to accept.

"Are you planning on coming tomorrow?" Adam asked as they walked up the isle.

Hatter shrugged. "Probably not. My shop isn't open at all tomorrow but my fiancée has a competition at her dojo and I think she wants me to go." He didn't even have to think about it, if Alice wanted him to go watch her compete, without question he would go. If she didn't care, he would go. He enjoyed watching her compete, and besides, he owed her for forcing him to come and watch. "What about you?" Hatter asked as they stepped out of the theater and into the afternoon sun.

"I'll probably show up. I don't have to work tomorrow and It wouldn't hurt to audition again, show the director I'm serious y'know?" Adam flashed Hatter a toothy grin and clasped him on the back. "You and your fiancée better come to the performance if you don't show up tomorrow."

"Wouldn't miss it." Hatter answered as he shook Adam's hand in farewell and headed towards the sidewalk. He would most defiantly have to convince Alice to come see the show, especially if Adam ended up getting Arthur, which Hatter assumed he would. Out of everyone who auditioned, it was Adam who got to do an extra read though with a completely different character and who Hatter believed did the best.

He had enjoyed watching the auditions. It had been fun for him to watch the people hoping for a part step up and take the chance. Some of them were horrible and that wasn't fun to watch, almost painful. Most of them however, like Adam were very good. Hatter wondered what Katherine has thought about it all and how was she going to make a decision.

The next day, Hatter's suspicions of not being able to attend auditions were proven true. Alice wanted him to be a cheering section at the dojo and Hatter agreed to it instantly. The day was long and his ass hurt from sitting on the cold bleachers that had been set out for spectators but Hatter was glad he went.

It was too late by the time the tournament was over for Hatter to stop by the theater and see how things had gone. He wondered if anyone had redone their audition from the previous day. How Katherine was going to be able to cast this show, Hatter had no idea whatsoever. He was glad he wasn't involved and could just go see the show.

Hatter was so busy the next few days he barley had time to think. By Wednesday, Camelot and the auditions seemed to be a distant memory in his mind. He thought he wasn't going to hear anything more until the show was ready for opening night, which was why he was rather surprised when he got the phone call.

It was just as the afternoon rush ended. Hatter was cleaning off one of the tables where one of the regular customers had eaten lunch when he heard his office phone ring. Quickening his pace, he finished wiping off the table, yelling to Jill—who was on shift with home that he would be back and rushed into his office.

"David!" The other end of the line exclaimed the moment Hatter picked up the phone. "It's Katherine Matthews. Sorry for calling at work but I don't have your home number."

"Hi?" Hatter said as he sank into his desk chair. He was rather surprised to hear her voice.

"I've figured out the casting for Camelot!" Katherine said, her voice shaking with excitement.

"Oh?" Why she was telling him this, Hatter had no idea. He wasn't involved. All he had done was help out a little. It was no reason for her to be calling him at work, there were plenty of people who were involved, why couldn't she call them?

"We have a really talented cast." Katherine said. By the sound of her voice, Hatter could tell her excitement was growing. "I've decided to cast Adam White as Arthur, you remember him, he's the guy you read with?"

Hatter smiled to himself. Good for Adam! Although Hatter wouldn't deny that he had a feeling Adam had the part. The man was very talented and used the knowledge he had gained while at college well. Hatter had been so busy thinking about Adam and how he had deserved the part of Arthur, he almost missed the next thing Katherine had to say.

"I want to give you the part of Mordred."

Hatter was silent for a moment, waiting for her to continue. To hear her say something along the lines of _but you didn't audition so I had to give it to this person. _It was only fair. When she didn't, Hatter felt his heartbeat increase, his palms grew sweaty as he gripped the phone tighter but he couldn't feel anything, he was in total shock. "But I didn't audition!"

"I know you didn't." Katherine said, now sheepishly. "But you were the only who read and acted Mordred's part _exactly _the way I pictured him."

"Why not give the part to someone who actually auditioned? Someone who was interested in it?" Hatter asked again his shock turning into annoyance as Jill knocked on his office door and poked her head in. "I mean, obviously I would have auditioned meself if I was." He said as he impatiently waved Jill away.

"You're interested." Katherine said knowingly. "Why else would you have given the pamphlet to your fiancée? Or shown up to auditions? Or helped Adam out? You really have talent David!"

Hatter remained silent. She was wrong of course. How could she not be? Besides, he couldn't be involved. It was too much work, it would have to be the story seemed so involved and he didn't have the time. Between his and Alice's jobs their time together was very precious and he wanted to spend time with her. How could Katherine not see that?

"Look," Katherine said after a few moments of silence. "You don't have to take the part, but I really hope you decide to. We'll be having our first practice Sunday afternoon. Just do me a favor think about it, and if you still don't want to do it, I'll give the part to someone else. But really _think_ about it. It seems like you work way to hard. You need some sort of a hobby."

She hung up.

**A/N:**

**There you have it! If I end up adding more chapters to this fanfiction they will contain Hatter's experiences with the play and such…with perhaps a few twists. However, it depends on you! I have a few other fanfiction ideas as well as my original story; Outlaws Of Alaria on fictionpress so I feel that I shouldn't continue on this fanfiction unless people want to read more, so **_**review**_**!**


	2. Meeting the Cast

**A/N:**

**Well, you asked for it so here it is! I will now be continuing Hatter's Hobby.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed! It made me so glad to get them! You guys **_**rock**_**!**

**Let's get back to Hatter shall we? After all, that's why you're here right?**

Hatter closed the front door of the flat quietly. He could hear the television in the back room buzz slightly as he headed toward the kitchen, smiling to himself as he did so. Alice was home early and waiting for him as usual. Or, Hatter thought to himself as he searched through the cupboards to make a soothing cup of tea, perhaps he was late. He didn't have the time. Katherine's phone call had thrown him for a loop. So far though a loop in fact that it was all Hatter could think about for the rest of that day. He didn't let it show to his customers of course, but anyone who knew him well would have been able to tell something was on his mind. Now that he was home, he could think properly. Take the part? Or not take the part? He hadn't been expecting it at all, he didn't want it.

Katherine knew he didn't have any experience, he had told her himself. Hatter didn't have the time to memorize the lines. When he was there and read the lines for Mordred, he didn't sing the song, Six Lethal Virtues or whatever the hell it was called. How could Katherine have cast him? Sure, she had said that he had done the best Mordred throughout the auditions, and that he was the only one who had read it exactly the way she had pictured it, but why him? There had been plenty of other people auditioning for the part of Mordred, and one of them had even gotten one of those extra readings. One of them had to have been good enough to be Mordred right?

"Hatter?"

He whirled around in surprise and found himself face to face with Alice. Hatter had been thinking so hard he hadn't heard her come in. A very un-Hatter-like characteristic. Usually, he would _always _notice when she, or anyone came into a room whether he had his back on them or not. Alice seemed to notice the change in character, and it worried her even more, Hatter could tell.

"Alice," Hatter muttered, reaching into the cupboards and pulling out a teacup for Alice before shutting it. "Hey!" He smiled at her. "I was just making a quick cup of tea. Care to join me?"

"You're late." Alice said as he handed her a teacup and turned his back on her to turn the cooker on. "I was beginning to get worried."

"Sorry, Love." He said, pouring water into the kettle. "I was a bit out of sorts today at work. Took a while to get everything finished for the day."

"What happened?" She asked as she leaned against the counter and stared at him. Hatter sighed. He knew he was going to have to tell her sooner or later. Alice knew him too well for him to be able to hide it.

"I got a phone call this afternoon. From Katherine Matthews."

"That lady from the Community Theater?" Alice asked her eyebrow rising slightly. "What did she want?"

Hatter presumed to tell her everything Katherine told him in great detail and what he said in return. He found that once he began, all of the thoughts that had been buzzing in his head since he talked to Katherine, came pouring out of him. Alice had this effect on him, for he felt that he could honestly tell her anything and she would love him no less than before. As he continued on telling Alice the details, they found their way into the living room, teacups in hand, sitting side by side on their couch. Hatter emphasized his worries, especially that he did _not _want the part. Alice was quiet while he talked. Listening intently.

"So long story short," Hatter said as he leaned against the couch, shifting his now empty teacup in his hand. "I don't have the time or the skills. I can't—I don't want to do it."

Alice stared at him, her light blue eyes not leaving his face. "I think you should do it anyway."

"Have you not heard a word I said?"

"Yeah," Alice said. "I can see you're in denial."

"Denial?" Hatter said. How could she say he was in denial? Why was it that everyone seemed to think that he was interested in this damn production? All he did was help out someone in need and then go watch some people read and helped them out to. He was a helpful guy that's all. Why did Oysters have to try to overanalyze everything?

"You can do it Hatter." Alice said, putting her teacup down and moving closer to him on the couch. "You used those skills in Wonderland. I remember. You're really good at it."

Hatter scoffed. Those skills he had learned were for his survival. They were entirely different, weren't they? He shrugged it off, saying the only thing he could think of. "I'm not interested, Alice."

"You _are_ interested Hatter. If you weren't, you would have told Katherine no thank you and wouldn't have given it another thought."

He opened his mouth to speak but shut it again. When Katherine had said it, it had sounded completely mental but when _Alice_ said it was a different kettle of onions. Hatter had admitted to himself earlier that it had been an interesting story. After he had gone to the auditions the rest of the day had been quite a good one. Hatter had been in a fabulous mood, making it much easier to do his job, making his customers happy and he found himself with a jar full of tips as a result. Obviously, everyone noticed and had put two and two together. Everyone but him that is.

"Look," Alice said her arms wrapping around his waist. "It's up to you, but I think you should do it. You work way too hard in the shop and need something to get rid of your stress—"

"What stress?"

"Besides." Alice said, ignoring his question as she stared up at him. "I want to see you up on stage, singing your heart out as Mordead."

"Mord_r_ed, love. The character's name is Mordred."

"Mordred then." Alice said smiling at him. "I want you to do it Hatter."

"But," Hatter argued, sounding much like a child who didn't want to eat their vegetables. "What about the shop? If I have to practice while the shop is open what'll I do?"

"You have a manager. It's about time you put her to work. Besides, I can manage the shop too Hatter. You need to get out of the shop and everyday routine. Do something fun!"

XXXXXXXXXX

That Sunday, Hatter found himself walking through the doors of the community theater. His legs felt numb as he walked through the large double doors where he could see a group of people all sitting at the round table that was sitting on the stage—which Hatter assumed would end up being the Round Table in the production. Katherine sat facing him. At the sight of him, Katherine smiled. Hatter could almost swear he saw her sigh in relief just a tad.

"David! I'm glad you're here! Come on up!"

As he walked up toward the stage, Hatter cleared his throat uncomfortably as the people around the table turned to look at him. How would he be able to do his part if just a few people staring at him made him uncomfortable? He sat down in the only remaining seat at the table as Katherine gestured towards him.

"This is David Hatter, everyone. He'll be playing Mordred."

Hatter responded to the few 'hellos' 'hi's' and grunts in greeting with a simple "G'morning." (despite it being afternoon) and a head nod as Katherine handed him two small books. One of them was blood red and labeled in large gold letters "_Camelot,_" in the same gold letters but in much smaller font read "_Mordred_." Hatter assumed this was his script. It wasn't as thick as he had anticipated and he was thankful for that. However, the black book, labeled the exact same way was about twice as thick. He opened it and flipped through it, to realize that it was the music. Hatter stared at the odd markings that were called 'notes' and words of the beginning song of the musical as Katherine began to introduce the rest of the main cast.

"You know Adam of course," She said gesturing to her left. Adam sat there and waved his hand in greeting. Hatter smiled a dimpled smile at him as he flipped the page. "This is Emma Fields, who'll be playing Guenevere."

Katherine pointed to the girl directly in front of him. She was a pretty thing with blonde hair that fell delicately to her shoulders. He had seen her audition, she had been one of the rather good ones, although a few had impressed him a bit more. Hatter had to do a double take on her, because her eyes were a bright purple color, Hatter assumed she was wearing contacts. The Emma girl smiled at him as Katherine continued on. "Next to you is Kris Edison, who's Lancelot."

Hatter shook hands with the tall, nerdy looking man beside him. How this guy was going to pull off Lancelot, Hatter had no idea but he smiled at him anyway.

"Over here," Katherine continued, "Is Daniel Delgado, who'll be playing both Merlyn and Pellinore, who's also referred to as Pelly."

Hatter nodded toward the tall blond man, who was massive. When he spoke to Hatter in greeting, he noticed that Daniel had a gruff booming voice, which sent shivers down Hatter's spine.

"You have a very important scene with Daniel as well as Rachel Simons who is Morgan Le Fay." Katherine said. The woman on his opposite end nodded towards Hatter and smiled. Her hair was up in a loose knot and she wore a gray cabby hat. Hatter liked that hat, when he told Rachel; she blushed and whispered her thanks shyly. "Bella Myers is going to be Nimue, but she isn't going to be at these practices because her character is only in one scene—but it's an important character and I thought you should know. She's going to be in the chorus for the rest of the play."

Hatter arched an eyebrow as he turned yet another page in the music book. With all of these introductions, he was only about one third into the book and had yet to find a song with his character's name on it. Maybe he didn't have to sing after all!

"And last but not least," Katherine said gesturing towards the final person. "Is Rick Klein, who is Dinaden." When Hatter looked at Rick, the first impression he got was stuck up. The man barley looked at Hatter and stared down at his script.

Katherine then continued to speak about now that they had everyone present; they were going to begin to read it together as a group. The play started slowly, but Hatter found it quite amusing. He and the rest of the cast snickered along as they went through the script when it was called for, such as when crazy old Pellinore stumbled into the May Day celebration talking about Arthur turning himself into a Bunny Rabbit and associating with some "Funny Bunnies." They were all in awe when that was called for, such as when Lancelot and Guenevere admitted their love for one another.

As they went on, Hatter realized that each person who sat at the table was there because they deserved it. Emma especially impressed him as she read, it was much better than her audition and Hatter assumed that she must had redone it. Kris was also impressive, his nerdy persona evaporating into nothingness and replaced with an arrogant yet loving air about him as he read. Daniel was hilarious, and his ability to switch from the characters Merlyn and Pellinore with such ease was incredible. However, none of them did as well as Adam. Who, like the previous time Hatter was with him, truly became King Arthur. They read smoothly for the most part, only stopping when Katherine would mention who would sing what, or explain what was going to be going on, such as when Hatter and Kris's shadows would be seen when Merlyn talked about his visions of the dangers of Mordred and Lancelot. It wasn't until Adam began his speech about being a king but also a man, and how he was going to ignore Lancelot and Guenevere's affair completely did Hatter realize that Mordred had yet to make an appearance in the play, in person and not in the shadows as a old wizard's vision. Hatter had thought that Mordred was a main character, the villain. Why wasn't he in the story yet?

"And that's the end of the First Act!" Katherine said when Adam was finished. "It's late so let's stop for tonight and pick up at the beginning of Act Two tomorrow." She must have seen the look on Hatter's face as he flipped through the script confused for she added. "At the very beginning of Act Two is Mordred's introduction and when Arthur's troubles _really _take a turn for the worse."

"Thanks a lot, David!" Adam teased as he closed his script. "You're going to ruin my peaceful rule!"

"Technically," Hatter said as the others snickered and followed Adam's example. "You've ruined it for yourself, for lettin' your wife sleep around, yeah?"

They all laughed as they stood up to clear out. Katherine handed them practice schedules as they put on their jackets. Hatter was very surprised that almost two hours had passed and it was now early evening. Looking down at his schedule, Hatter realized he had practice every day, late afternoon or early evening, right before the chorus was scheduled to practice. He wondered if Alice would actually be willing to help in the shop as she said she would once she saw this schedule. Hatter doubted she would say anything. Still, by the looks of this schedule Hatter was going to be running ragged, with Alice's help or not. It was going to be an interesting three months.

**A/N:**

**I hope you enjoyed reading Chapter Two as much as I enjoyed writing it! Hatter's in for a fun time!**

**I apologize for all of the people Hatter had to meet but I felt it was necessary. Just a fun fact, they are all loosely inspired by the actual people in my high school's production of Camelot so kudos to them for being awesome. But don't think that you met a bunch of worthless people just now. They'll have bigger parts once Hatter begins practicing with them. **

**So yeah, enough of my rambling. Please review! **

**Oh and Happy Thanksgiving! **


	3. Learning Lines

**A/N:**

**Yay for Chapter Three! **

**Special thanks to all who reviewed! ****You people are the crumbs in my butter…in a good way of course!**

**This chapter is dedicated to anyone who is, or has been involved in the theatre and know how annoying line learning can actually be, especially if you are like me and have to get them **_**word **_**for **_**word **_**and know how infuriating it can be to do so…or when someone who doesn't especially care if he or she has their lines memorized perfectly, asks you to help them. It can be **_**very**_** annoying. So yeah, if you have ever been in a situation similar to that or exactly that, this chapter is for you!**

**Onward to Hatter!**

"How once, when she was visiting England, she met a handsome—"

"No, the line isn't 'handsome' it's 'attractive'. Do it again."

Hatter sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that evening. He was lying on his back, on the floor in his living room, feet propped up by the couch. Alice stood above him, his script in her hand. After about a week of practice, Katherine had declared that lines were to be fully memorized by the end of the month. He had found, after practicing all afternoon and all evening at home, that line learning was rather easy. Not that it was all tea and crumpets mind you, at first, Hatter had thought it was going to be a terrible experience and that he was never going to be able to do it. After awhile however, he had found that he did know the first scene rather well, with only a few mistakes here and there. He assumed that it had to do with something involving his ability to notice and remember things in detail, which had also helped him out a lot throughout his adventures in Wonderland. When he had arrived home, Hatter had been feeling rather proud of himself. He then made the mistake of asking Alice to help him for a bit that evening.

It wasn't that Alice was doing it on purpose. She was just very precise about the way he would say his lines, they had to be _exactly _right or he had to do it again. It was a miracle they had gotten as far as the did already but they still weren't finished with his first scene, and an hour had passed. She refused to let him stop. It could drive anyone mad.

"How once," Hatter repeated in a monotone voice. "When she was visiting England, she met an _attractive _man named Arthur, invited him into her room and bewitched him for the night. Is that not the way the story goes your Majesty?"

"Pretty good." Alice said. "But you forgot one part. It isn't 'attractive man.' It's 'attractive young man.' Do it again."

"Why?" Hatter whined. He was tired, working all morning then having to go to practice that afternoon until early evening and was beginning to get sick of the lines he was constantly repeating. He had run the exact lines with Adam and Daniel, who were working on memorizing their lines as well. They ran the scene by themselves for an hour while Katherine had worked with Kris and Emma, helping them get into that sappy, sentimental type of setting they would need for the scenes involving Lancelot and Guenevere. Due to this fact, they had to add on an extra hour of their practice. During that time, Adam and Daniel had worked hard with Hatter. Helping him with the general idea of his first scene. When he had returned home, Alice really made him work, which he would admit was helping but he needed a little leeway. How could Alice not see that Hatter was tired? When he had asked for her help he didn't think she would go overboard, trying to make his lines perfect. He had enough.

"Because," Alice said looking down at him. "You need to get these lines memorized correctly. If you don't do it now, you'll never get them. That's what you do in the theatre, and they need to be word for word."

"I don't see the point." Hatter snapped, staring up at the ceiling. "As long as I get the basic gist of them, why do I have to get them _exactly_? No one else is going to know but me." She said something, but he chose to ignore her. Hatter had never realized it until that moment, but their ceiling was a very dull white color with a very interesting design all around. However, it looked rather boring and it emphisized rest of the eggshell white in the room. He would paint it, if the landlord of the apartment would have allowed it. Hatter made a point to remind himself to get something in this room to add a bit more color.

"Hatter!" Alice yelled, driving Hatter from his useless thoughts.

"What?" He said his face set grimly.

"I was just saying that you need to get these lines correct. That's what professionals in theatre _do_."

"But I'm not a _professional." _Hatter snapped back. "Besides, Adam and Daniel didn't have their lines memorized _exactly._"

"They will though," Alice told him. "Especially Adam if he wants to be on Broadway. Come on, do it again, just once more."

"Fine." Hatter sighed dramatically. 'Just once more?' Like hell. "When she was visiting England, she met an attractive young man named, Arthur, invited him into her room and bewitched him for the night. Is that not the way the story goes, your Majesty?"

"Yes," Alice read. "That's the way the story goes Mordred."

Hatter smiled to himself. Alice was much different when she said Arthur's lines, in fact compared to Adam, she was terrible. "And you can _imagine_ her surprise—"

"There isn't an 'And' in your script," Alice piped up but quieted down at Hatter's glare.

"—when he became King, of all England." Hatter finished, choosing to ignore Alice's interruption.

"Very well Mordred," Alice read, turning the page. "Now you are here. What are your plans?"

"That's for _you _to decide, your Majesty."

"Very well Mordred." Alice read. "Then I shall tell you what I desire, what I offer, what I wish, that you become a Knight of the Round Table. You have youth, brains and a proper heritage. Much can be done if you apply yourself."

"How generous of you your Majesty." Hatter recited sending a stiff head nod in Alice's direction. "_Nothing_ would please me more than to gain your confidence."

"I'm certain of that." Alice read. "Tonight, you will have dinner with the Queen and me and we will try to get to know each other better. Tomorrow your training will begin, but I warn you Mordred. No favoritism will be shown. You must earn the right to knighthood through virtue and proper deeds."

"I shall try, your Majesty."

"The adage, 'Blood is Thicker than Water' was invented by, undeserving relatives." Alice read as she looked at him expectantly. From what they had practiced earlier that day, Hatter knew that at this point, Adam will have walked off stage, leaving him alone to sing his song.

"Virtue and proper deeds your Majesty?" Hatter said, allowing his accent to thicken. "Like what? Courage Milord? Prosperity and Humility my liege?"

"Purity, not prosperity." Alice whispered.

"_Purity _and Humility my liege?" Hatter recited again. "Diligence? Honesty? Charity? _Fidelity_?" He snorted as he said this line, and smirked as Alice smiled to herself as she continued reading his lines, making sure he had them _word _for _word_. He knew his monotone was gone and he was acting again. He couldn't help it, no matter how annoyed he was at Alice.

"The _Seven Deadly Virtues_?" Hatter said waving his hand towards the ceiling in a flourish. "No thank-you. _Your Majesty._"

"Good!" Alice said, her smile broadening. "You know these lines, seeing as you've been running the scene a lot with them, I'm glad you do. What's next?"

He sat up at that point, reaching for his script. "After I do a little bow toward where Adam walks off, I sing The Seven Deadly Virtues." He muttered as Alice pulled it away from his grasp.

"Why don't you sing it now?" She said, the smile still played on her lips. "I want to hear it."

"Because, love." He said as he took the script from her hand. "I haven't practiced it yet. I don't even know how it goes."

"Haven't you read the music?"

"Well yeah, obviously." Hatter muttered, as he stood up from the floor and sat on the couch, which was by far much more comfortable. Alice joined him. "But I don't understand it. I can't read the music, I mean, I can a little bit but it's hard."

"You didn't have music in Wonderland?"

"I listened to it." Hatter said, flipping though his script absentmindedly. "But I didn't have time to actually learn how to read it, yeah? I had other things to worry about."

They were silent for a moment. Alice watched Hatter continue to flip through Act One and onto Act Two. The silence was uncomfortable, Hatter felt Alice inch closer. "Are you nervous? For when you practice your song for the first time?"

"A bit." Hatter admitted as he closed the script and looked at her. "I'm doing it for the first time in a few days. Luckily, it will just be me and Katherine there so I won't look like a total idiot in front of everyone."

Hatter could feel his palms grow sweaty as he thought about it. He gulped. Hatter wasn't one to admit he was anxious about something as stupid as a little song, but it was the closest he was going to come to admitting it. From what he had seen, everyone else within the main cast had a basic understanding of music and had some type of a music background. Even the chorus, who Hatter had learned essentially contained Katherine's high school choir students who needed what Katherine called an "extra performing credit" would know more about those strange markings on the music sheet than he did. It embarrassed him that he didn't understand.

In Wonderland, he had made it a goal to understand most things. In order to better his chance at survival. At the time, learning how to read music didn't seem that important. Boy was he wrong. The way Katherine talked about the song, it seemed to be a well-enjoyed song by everyone who had seen Camelot. He didn't want to mess it up and he obviously didn't want to appear as if he didn't know anything.

Alice seemed to understand his worries as she cuddled up into his chest as he wrapped his arms around her. "Why don't you look up the song on the internet?" Alice suggested. "There _has_ to be something."

"Katherine told us not to love." Hatter said as he kissed her hair. He appreciated that she was trying to help, and it was a good suggestion. However, Katherine had clearly stated during their second time reading through the play as a group that she did _not _want them looking up videos of their songs online. She wanted them to develop the song in their own unique way. Great idea Katherine, one problem, one of the members in your cast can barely read the music. How in the hell is he going to be able to develop the song in his "own unique way" if he wasn't able to understand a bloody thing? Hatter thought to himself as Alice kissed him. He let out a moan of pleasure as Alice ran her fingers through his messy hair and changed her position so she could gain more access to his mouth. Whether she was trying to alleviate his tension or to distract him from his thoughts, Hatter didn't know. Quite frankly, as they wrapped their arms around each other, Alice pulling him close as the kiss intensified, he didn't care.

She suddenly got up and headed towards the computer. After letting out a noise of disappointment, Hatter followed her curiously, until he learned she was going to look up the song anyway. After he protested, she stated that it was perfectly fine if _she _looked up the song and Hatter just happened to overhear it. At first, Hatter was against it, but by the time she had clicked the Internet icon, he was by her side watching the screen intently. The only way he was going to be able to understand the way the song went was if he listened to it first. Katherine _had_ to understand that. Maybe later, he could learn how to read the music, but as of now, he didn't have the time. He was glad Alice was here to help him with the song as well as his lines—even though she was too serious about him getting them perfect. Hatter smiled at her as she searched the Internet intently. Trying to find the song. What would he do without her?

His dimpled smile grew larger as Alice finally found a title to her liking and clicked the computer mouse. The song, or at least the version Alice had found, was shorter than Hatter had anticipated. However, if this was the version he was going to sing-and Hatter had no idea- that was not a problem. As they browsed the interent for different versions of the song, Hatter's anxiety began to grow. How would this turn out? From what they had heard, the song didn't seem all that complicated but what would it sound like when Hatter himself tried to sing it? They listened to four more versions, almost all of them were the same if not very similar.

"After this one," Alice said, clicking the mouse yet again, "Let's get back to your lines."

**A/N:**

**I was very surprised how quickly this chapter was finished and I'm happy to be able to get it online so quickly but please, don't assume that this is a regular thing, I normally have school or other responsibilities instead of being able to sit around all day writing. Thanksgiving Break rules. **

**I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, the scene that Hatter auditioned with is one of my favorite scenes in **_**Camelot **_**and I wanted to finish it, so I'm glad I was able to slip it in here. The song, Seven Deadly Virtues is also one of my favorites and I personally can't wait for next chapter where Hatter **_**will**_** be singing. But will he be singing well? Wait to find out!**

**If you are one of those people who likes to look up music that is important to a fanfiction and choose to follow Alice's example, defying Katherine's orders and decide look up the song Seven Deadly Virtues—or any of the songs in Camelot—I recommend that you listen to the original Broadway Cast (Richard Burton, Julie Andrews and such) the original actor for Mordred was Roddy McDowall.**

**Don't forget to review! Reviews make me want to get you the next chapter a whole lot faster! Besides…your reviews are like Red Bull…they give me wings!**


	4. Seven Deadly Virtues

**A/N: **

**Thanks for waiting for this chapter and sorry it took so long. **

**Super special thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter! You people make my day!**

**I dedicate this chapter to the **_**real **_**Katherine Matthews, the wonderful, loveable, yet completely mad Kaitlyn Adams who is simply the best Choir and Musical Director of all time! This chapter is for you, Warden!**

**Now, I'm sure you are anxious for this chapter, and to find out how Hatter does with his song! Let's find out how he does shall we?**

As it turned out, Hatter needed to thank Alice. She had been right when she stated that the others would have their lines memorized quickly, and have then exactly right for the most part. Practice that day went off without a hitch, and Hatter was quite relieved to discover that he too, knew his lines. This apparently made Katherine extremely happy.

"This is great you guys!" She told them, bouncing up and down, clapping her hands like a little kid. "Let's end on a good note, since the chorus is beginning to show up."

Hatter smiled at Katherine. He had worked hard, thanks to Alice, to get his lines memorized. Katherine's praise had only improved his still increasingly good mood.

"Starting tomorrow," Katherine told them as he and the others began to grab their jackets "We have to practice at the high school where I work. The theater is being used for the next three weeks for something else so we've been forced to relocate for the time being. We have a piano at the high school so we can start working on our songs and I teach choir there so we'll have plenty of practice room in there. We'll start with David singing Seven Deadly Virtues okay? Be there by three o'clock okay, David?"

Hatter felt his blood run cold as he nodded automatically. That was tomorrow? Why did it have to creep up on him so quickly? He had been listening to the music on the Internet for the past few days, but was he ready? No. No he wasn't.

XXXXXXXXXX

The next day, Hatter stood in front of the large brick building with a sigh. It was the moment he had been dreading that entire week, the day he was going to work on his song for the first time, had finally arrived. He took a deep breath as he stepped forward. Hatter felt unusually calm at that moment, in contrast with his worrying throughout the week. In fact, he had been rather irritable-according to Alice. Irritable because he was so nervous, she assumed. Why was it that something as silly as a song able to rattle his cage so much? After all, back in Wonderland, he helped bring down the Casino, fought Mad March, punched a Jabberwock and much more. He had stayed calm for the most part in those situations. Yet, with the knowledge that he was going to be trying to sing within the hour's time, made Hatter sick to his stomach. Why was it that a measly little song, something that was not going to threaten his life, making him feel as if he was standing before the Queen of Hearts? Although, truth be told, if given the choice between facing the Queen of Hearts again or having to sing, he would have chosen the Queen in a heartbeat. After Hatter thought about it for a moment, he realized that she no longer posed as much as a threat. He knew that she could be stopped. Hatter still didn't know if he could sing.

He had listened to the song, _Seven Deadly Virtues _over a hundred times, from when Alice had found it online only a few days previously. There had been different versions of people actually performing it as well as a soundtrack from the Original Broadway Cast. Hatter, like most things, soaked it in like a sponge, and he assumed he had the song memorized. Alice had asked him once or twice to sing it a bit. Hatter always refused, stating he didn't want to actually sing it unless he knew if he was singing it correctly and wasn't getting used to bad habits.

It felt odd to be in the halls of the high school. Alice had told him a bit about the Oyster Schooling System. He found it odd for the hallways to be so quiet, until he realized that class was still in session. Hatter went to the room labeled "School Office" and was given information on where to go, but he couldn't resist looking into a few actual Oyster classrooms as he went by. Wonderland, Hatter had explained to Alice once, didn't have a official schooling system and he had learned how to read and write from his mother, then after her suicide, teaching himself using whatever he could find. Hatter would have given anything just to have been able to learn at a place designed for learning and had been quite shocked to learn that most Oyster teenagers didn't want to be there in the first place.

Oyster teenagers were a complete different species from their adult counterparts as they sat at the tiny tables and stared at the person in the front of the room, either noticing him or ignoring his presence completely. The students, who did notice, would either ignore him and looked back at the teacher, gave him a quizzical look or smiled at him and waved in greetings. A few of the girls, even some of the boys seemed to recognize him as he passed. Hatter assumed they were in the chorus for Camelot and would smile and wave if they noticed him. Never letting on that his heart was about to burst out of his chest and run for the hills.

The noise coming from the room was anything but music. Laughter filled the hallway as Hatter approached the open door labeled _'Choir Room'. _Hesitantly, he stuck his head in the door. The room was very spacious, which made the noise just as loud on the inside. A large black piano stood in the corner while an older woman sat at it, watching the class with a smile on her face. Katherine stood in the middle of the room, her eyes downcast at a piece of paper that Hatter assumed were either notes, or a piece of music, laughing to herself. Something hilarious must had happened, for it wasn't just Katherine laughing. The class was small, but their laughter made it seem as if they were double in size. The stands that they stood on were barely taken up. However, Hatter noticed that they sat in four different groups. A group of boys sat on both edges while the girls-which they seemed to have more of in the class, sat in the middle. Hatter found this odd for some reason, but he figured he'd find out soon enough. One of the students had noticed him and had pointed him out to the still giggling Katherine.

"David!" Katherine exclaimed excitedly as she motioned him inside. "You're early!"

Hatter shrugged. "Yeah, well I was in the neighborhood and I thought I'd stop by."

He returned Katherine's smile with a false one as she turned to her class who were now silent and watching them intently. Hatter took his brown fedora off his head and shifted it uncomfortably. Although the class was small-it couldn't have more than fifteen kids-Hatter felt as if all of their eyes were trying to pour into his soul. He didn't like the feeling or the attention and wished they would just look away, he was anxious enough. Katherine didn't seem to notice his discomfort however, for she turned to her class, gesturing towards Hatter.

"Class," she said smiling. "This is David Hatter." He nodded as the class waved to him, and shifted his hat into his other hand.

Katherine turned to Hatter. "David," she said "This is my Honors Ensemble, my advanced singers."

Hatter nodded and waved back at the students staring down at him from those stupid stands. These students were advanced. What if Katherine made him start practicing now? What were they going to think when he was going to sing? This was not going to end well on his part. He beat himself up mentally, why should he care what a bunch of useless kids thought? Why _did _he care? Hatter was sure that it was obvious he was nervous, his heart felt like it was pounding against his chest very keen on running for those hills and his hat was beginning to get damp from his sweaty palms. He looked at Katherine, who still seemed totally oblivious to those excessively beating heart and sweaty palms.

"Some of you may recognize David as the owner of the tea shop a few blocks from here?" A few students murmured to themselves as she continued. "He is going to be playing Mordred in the musical I'm directing and needs to practice one of his songs after school today. Since he's a little early, let's put on a little show for him okay?"

Hatter felt himself sigh in relief. Her class wasn't over, and she wasn't going to make him sing in front of her students, he still had time to compose himself. After Katherine's suggestion to, Hatter walked over to a chair that he assumed was for guests over by the piano. Maybe listening to the class sing would help him get over his nerves. Why was he even this nervous? It was stupid to be, after all, he had faced much worse. This wouldn't kill him. Why was he so nervous?

Katherine began to move her hands back and forth in a rhythmic way, each group began to sing. The song was short but seemed very complicated. Hatter discovered quickly that the reason the students were in separate groups because each section sang a different part of the song. It sounded rather good, fantastic even when they sang together. Hatter smiled to himself. Even though he knew _nothing _about music, Hatter knew what he liked and that was amazing. As they finished, Katherine began to speak and give notes.

"That was great guys! Only one thing," She said as she looked on her notes, "First Sopranos, you added a mezzo forte before the crescendo at measure fourteen. I dunno if you did it on purpose or not but it sounded pretty." She smiled at them and gave them the thumbs up, a silly expression on her face. "So we gunna keep eet."

Hatter blinked as the class giggled. _First Who, added a what before the what at what? _Was he going to have to understand those strange and foreign words? He was screwed.

"Let's try it again," Katherine said as she held her hands up and the class stood up straighter as the music began again. It suddenly stopped as Katherine began to wave her hands excessively. "You were flat." She told them, staring at her notes, taking her hand and rubbing it on her head absentmindedly making her mousy brown hair stand out in random places even more. The class laughed, which made Katherine look up and smile in return.

Shortly after, a few more songs, a few more critiques and a few more giggles the bell rang throughout the classroom. The students dispersed quickly. Hatter suddenly realized he could feel his heart beating out of his chest again. As the class had gone on, he had found that their music seemed to distract him from his own impending doom, a song he did not know how to sing. He had been distracted and had not noticed. Now that it was over, the reality was setting in again.

Katherine turned toward Hatter, obviously still oblivious to his nervousness. "We'll start in just a second," she told him. "I have to go make a few copies for tomorrow but then we can work."

"Great." Hatter said thickly as Katherine walked out the door.

Hatter suddenly felt more alone than ever, alone in this large and now very quiet room. The old lady, the one who had played the piano was nowhere to be seen. He assumed that she had left as quickly as the students had. He was very alone. Hatter walked over to the piano and sat down. He pressed a few keys absentmindedly. What would his song sound like on this piano? Hatter had heard it thousands of times online. He had never heard one on the piano; it had either been the original Broadway version's actor-Roddy McDowall, or other people performing who had it taped. What would it sound like? He was about to find out.

XXXXXXXXXX

Twenty minutes later, Hatter was getting discouraged. He had no idea what he was doing. The song was much different on the piano than from what he heard online. First thing he had learned was that the music was most definitly different from what he had seen. In those versions there was a slight introduction of music before he was to sing, but in this version he was supposed to start the song himself. No quick little introduction. It was all him. The music would follow him and it all depended on his singing and would go as fast as he went. It all counted on him from the moment he would begin singing which was when the music would begin to play. Great. Then, Katherine said he was too quiet and said she couldn't hear him. He had apologized, and they started yet again but he was still too quiet.

"Lets try it again. At the Introduction where Arthur just left, there will be a little music there but that may help you sing." Katherine told him and she placed her hands on the piano keys.

Hatter sighed. "Alright."

She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to begin.

"Virtue and proper deeds, your Majesty?" Hatter recited, "Like what? Courage Milord?"

_ping! _

"Purity and Humility my liege?"

_ping! _

"Diligence? Honesty? Charity? Fidelity?"

_pah! _

"The Seven Deadly Virtues? No thank you, your Majesty."

Katherine looked at him, ready to begin. This was when he was supposed to break out and sing. He took a breath and opened his mouth. Nothing came out. Why was this so damn hard?

"Are you okay, David?" Katherine asked him after a minute.

"Fine." He lied.

"Look," Katherine said. "This song can be sung in a lot of different ways. You can sing through the whole thing. Or you can sing through part of it, even talk through it all. It doesn't matter. Don't concentrate on the music but instead read the words. If you just relax you will be fine. You just need to have fun."

Hatter nodded. He was trying, really he was. It was his nerves. He didn't know how to read the music, but did that really not matter? _Just have fun with it. _Seemed to be Katherine's motto. Hatter sighed to himself. Last time he had just had fun, it had landed him in this mess. He could try it though. It couldn't hurt.

"Let's try again." She said.

Hatter nodded. "I think I'm going to try to talk through it right now." He told her, Katherine nodded to him and placed her hands on the piano again. Ready to begin.

"Virtue and proper deeds, your Majesty?" He recited once more, "Like what? Courage Milord?"

_ping! _

"Purity and Humility my liege?"

_ping! _

"Diligence? Honesty? Charity? Fidelity?"

_pah! _

"The Seven Deadly Virtues? No thank you, your Majesty."

He opened his mouth again. Katherine's voice echoing in his head. 'Just read the words…don't worry about the music….Relax…Just have fun.'

"_The Seven Deadly Virtues. Those ghastly little traps! Oh no liege they were not meant for me!_"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Katherine smile to herself. He didn't have time to register it however, for he was continuing on.

"_Those Seven Deadly Virtues, were made for other chaps, who love a life of failure and ennui._"

He took a breath. This felt really good! Katherine's smile seemed to grow bigger, much like this feeling. His heart was still beating rapidly, but he couldn't help but smile.

"_Take Courage! Now there's a sport. An invitation to the state of rigor mort!_"

He waited once again, it just felt right. Katherine didn't stop playing, she nodded to him, smiling still. "_And Purity, a noble yen. And very restful every now and then." _

Hatter leaned forward, they were finished with this page he believed, or at least that's what he thought, he couldn't read the music obviously but he had ran out of words to sing. He had the song memorized of course, but for some reason, he felt as if he had to read them. Hatter turned the page. Katherine nodded to him yet again, not losing a step in the music.

"_I find Humility,_" Hatter read. "_Means to be hurt. It's not the earth the meek inherit. It's the dirt._"

He saw Katherine chuckle to herself. "_Honesty, is fatal, it should be taboo. Diligence? A fate I would hate. If Charity means giving, well, I give it to you, and Fidelity is only for your mate._"

Hatter laughed, as he had listened to the song online, he had never truly realized the comedic air to that single line. After all, at this point in the play, Arthur's wife Guenevere was doing the exact opposite of fidelity. He didn't laugh long however. They were almost finished with the song and Hatter wanted to get though it at least once.

"_You'll never find a virtue, __unstatusing__ my quo, or making my Beelzebubble burst._"

He looked over at Katherine. This felt really good. Hatter could feel his smile growing as he continued on, they were almost finished. "_Let other's take the high road, I will take the low. I cannot wait to rush in, where angels fear to go. With all those seven deadly virtues. Free and Happy little me has not. Been. __Cursed_."

Finally, he had gotten through the song. Relief swept over him, but it wasn't over yet Hatter looked over at Katherine, ready for her to tell him how horrible he was. Tell him that he would have to sing.

"You do realize." She said as she looked over at him. "That you pretty much sang that entire song? You didn't mess up once."

"Really?" His heart was still beating out of his chest. This time however, it wasn't from nerves or anticipation. Adrenaline ran through him. He had finished the song, he had actually sung, and he had done it _well _apparently! Why hadn't he realized it?

Katherine nodded again. "You actually have a really nice singing voice. It's raw and not very polished or strong but you did _really_ well. If we keep running it the way we just did we should be golden."

Hatter smiled, he did well? Really well? He could sing? He could actually sing? Pride swelled up in Hatter. He hadn't been paying much attention to how he had been singing, or just the fact that he had been singing in the first place, but it had felt good. He had simply let all of his worries go and dived right into it. Just the fact that he was singing was enough for Hatter. It could be done.

"I told you that if you relaxed and just had fun with it, everything would come naturally to you." Katherine told him, her knowing smile flashed across her lips. "Come on, let's do it once more."

**A/N:**

**Brumeier commented on the previous chapter that she was going to have to see Camelot herself and imagine whoever was playing Mordred as Hatter…which got me thinking, why couldn't my school go see another version of Camelot? I mean we're already going to go see Spamalot (a parody of Camelot) but why couldn't we do that too? I decided to look it up so I could talk to the Warden about it but then you will NEVER believe what I found...Alice in Wonderland the Musical! It's a modern day version of Alice in Wonderland sorta like Syfy's Alice. It's apparently heading to Broadway. I would have never found out about it if it hadn't been for Brumeier's comment, so thanks Brumeier! **

**Now that my little rant is over…you like this chapter? Hate this chapter? Think Hatter should have sang better? Worse? I wanna know your thoughts and I'm not a mind reader! Review! **


	5. Sally

**A/N:**

**Thank you, so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter.**

**I dedicate this chapter to a good Camelot Fairy buddy. The one who put a smile on my face everyday and still does when I see her in the hallways…this one is for you, little Sophie!**

**Now, It's time to continue on to Hatter's Camelot adventures! **

Hatter didn't know just how much hard work, yet how much fun being in a play could be. He thoroughly enjoyed the two hour-long practices with Katherine everyday, and his song was improving as well as the scenes they worked on together. Even though three weeks had only gone by, they had gotten a lot of work done.

The only thing Hatter had to complain about was his lack of time to be with Alice. It was hard for them, with Hatter's crazy Camelot schedule, to spend time together. The few minutes they spent with each other was in transition between Hatter going to practice and Alice taking over the last two hours of his shift. At the end of the day, usually one of them was too tired to even carry out a conversation. Due to this reason, Alice always arrived a half hour early. Hatter cherished the thirty minutes they always had together. Although it wasn't enough.

Which was why Hatter was so perturbed as he stared up at the clock. He had exactly twenty-two minutes and seventeen seconds before he was due at the high school. Adam, Kris and Emma would be finishing their scene very soon. Hatter was very familiar with the way Adam worked—a few laughs along the way but stay on task and get the work finished at a reasonable time. Hatter hoped that Rachel, the girl who was to play Morgan Le Fay, was the same way.

Up until that point, the only ones who Hatter had the opportunity to work with had been Adam and Daniel. Katherine had wanted to get his first scene "perfect" because it was such an important scene. Hatter's first song was coming along nicely as well. When he listened, he found that his singing voice was okay, not well developed as everyone else in the cast—that he had heard so far sing—but his voice fit his song. Every time he sang it, he found he enjoyed it more. Katherine always told him how well he did or always offered her advice to make it better and he soaked in that advice as a sponge-like everything-and was beginning to understand some of the singing terms she had been talking about that first time he had stepped into her classroom. He could even recognize some of the music, although he still couldn't read it yet, he could understand when he was to sing high, and when he was to sing low and was especially proud of himself when he discovered the symbol and meaning for crescendo, singing louder as it told him to. Katherine had especially been happy for him.

Apparently, _Seven Deadly Virtues _was not the only song he had to sing. He had a song with the knights, as well as a piece that was—in Katherine's words—"Not a song, exactly, but you talk within the time frame of the music—" that one, was with Morgan Le Fay. Hatter had yet to work with her and had only met her once that first day and looked forward to working with her. Although, it wasn't just Rachel that he was excited to meet, it was also the day Hatter, and the rest of the main cast was to begin working with the chorus.

Hatter looked forward to work with more people in the cast. In fact, he had grown rather tired of doing the same scenes with Daniel and Adam every day. He enjoyed working with them and understood why they worked so hard on it but he was ready for a change. The three of them knew their first scene together like the back of their hands and they only had two months left until the show opened, to Hatter, that realization seemed far off, but way too close for comfort. Hatter had been informed that Daniel and Adam had been working on their other scenes-now it was his turn.

If only Alice would show up! Hatter knew he couldn't leave the shop until she came, the manager had taken the day off to go with her young daughter on a field trip so it was just him-and Alice if she ever showed up-on managerial staff.

Twenty-minutes until his practice started. He wasn't going to get anything to eat at this rate, or anytime with Alice. Was something wrong? Was she okay? She never was late, it was a very important date. At least to him it was. How could she be so selfish?

Teenagers were beginning to come into the shop now, which meant that school was over and his time was beginning to run out. Ever since Camelot started—or more, since his practices were scheduled right before the chorus was to practice, more teenagers had been showing up in his shop, mostly girls, whispering to each other as he passed. The Teenage Female Oyster would always confuse him. These girls always giggled and huddled in their massive groups or as he liked to call "packs" after he finished taking their orders or while he was waiting on their tables. All but one that is.

"Hi David!" A peppy excited voice practically yelled from behind. Hatter's heart all but stopped as he whirled around. A young girl no older than twelve stood behind him beaming. Her brown eyes lit up at the sight of him and her large smile grew wider as he looked at her.

"Sally…" Hatter said nervously. "What a surprise." His sarcasm was obvious he knew, but the girl had been showing up in his shop ever since his first practice at the high school and always seemed to find her way to the other side of the counter to give him a heart attack. Usually, Hatter was good at noticing people behind him, but this girl was stealthy, and annoying.

"I made you some cookies!" Sally piped, thrusting them from her hands into his and suddenly looked at him, a worried expression plastered on her face. "I hope you like peanut butter, I was half way to school when I realized that you might like chocolate chip cookies instead but I chose crunchy peanut butter instead of smooth I hope that's all right!"

"It's fine Sally." Hatter said taking the cookies, as she beamed up at him. "Thanks." He didn't really like peanut butter cookies, or chocolate chip to be honest. The young girl was always trying to make sweets for him, why Hatter had no idea. He had once asked her to stop, but her reaction led to Hatter simply accepting them without comment, it was easier that way.

"I saw you at practice the other day." Sally said following him from the other side of the counter to pick up a plate and tip a guest had left him. "I love…your song." She said growing red in the cheeks.

"Thanks." Hatter said walking to the register, and looking over at Sally as he did. She smiled up at him, as if he had given her the most wonderful complement in the world. Teenager Oysters were confusing.

The front door of the shop opened and Hatter almost caught his breath. A worn looking Alice beamed at him from across the room. Her dark brown hair was tied in a tight ponytail and her bright blue eyes shone as he smiled at her. Alice must had just gotten out of the dojo, for she held her gym bag in one hand and a bag of Subway in the other. It was about time she showed up. Hatter thought, looking at his watch. Ten minutes would have to do.

"Hey Hatter!" Alice said, leaning forward and kissing him from across the counter. "I was afraid I had missed you."

"Yeah," Hatter said smiling to himself as he kissed her back. "You cut it a little close."

Alice chucked to herself as she walked behind the counter, handing him the Subway bag. "The line was incredibly long."

He rolled his eyes as he looked into the bag. Excuses, excuses. He pulled out his sandwich and began to unwrap it when he heard the same familiar, annoying voice beside him.

"What she get you David?"

"A sandwich."

"Really? Do you like sandwiches? Do you like them better than cookies? Oh I _knew _I should have asked you first! You must hate me now!"

"I told you that it's fine. Listen Sally, why don't you go and hang about with your friends, yeah? I have to go to practice soon."

Sally opened her mouth again to speak, but apparently, one of her friends called her from across the shop, perhaps the friend had heard his comment, which Hatter was thankful for. "Oh I gotta go." Sally said, once again beaming at him. "I'll see you at practice David!"

Hatter sighed to himself as Sally scampered off. "Glad that's over." He muttered to himself as he bit into his sandwich.

"What do you mean?" Alice asked him as she leaned against the counter reaching into the bag for her own sandwich.

"That girl Sally…she's so annoying! Whenever she's in this shop she clings to me like crumbs in the butter! She's always early to her own practice just so she can watch mine and she's always baking me things."

Alice smiled gently as she took a bite of her sandwich. "So she's got a little crush on you…I think it's cute."

"_Cute!_" Hatter choked turning towards Alice wide-eyed. How could she say it was cute? "I don't know how you Oysters deal with people you fancy Alice, but from where I come from, the display on affection she gives me would be considered the brink of insanity—even for Wonderland!"

"Good thing you aren't in Wonderland then, huh?" Alice teased, kissing him on the cheek. "She's only, what? Twelve? And she's got a little crush on you, it'll pass. It's no big deal."

Hatter shook his head. Obviously Alice had not seen all of the things that cluttered the counter in their flat labeled "_To: David. Love: Sally_" How could this not be a big deal? Okay, truth be told she wasn't that bad. Just a bit too clingy and hyper but she seemed to have a big heart. Sally's behavior was just odd. People who fancied each other in Wonderland never went to the extremes as the young girl did. They simply spent as much time with those they fancied as possible and hoped the other felt the same. He and Alice had practically been that way, although running from Suits, Jabberwocks and the Queen of Hearts was a fair cry from the typical Wonderland courting ritual it was much more normal then getting baked sweets from a little girl from what he figured. He hoped Alice was right, he hoped it would pass.

Why did Sally annoy him so much? She was a kid! He had Alice, and the young girl didn't threaten her at all and Hatter knew she was right, it was probably just a typical phase. Even in Wonderland, young girls fancied older men, or at least he assumed. He had been concentrating on much more important things in his adult life and his own childhood fancies were just a memory. The only reason Sally fancied him was because he was around, but his character didn't really work with the female chorus members anyway so it wasn't like they were going to see much of each other soon. Young Sally would stalk and harass him for a bit longer, but Hatter reckoned that she would eventually find someone who she interacted more with and begin to follow them around and bake them things. At least he hoped. He shrugged and looked at his watch, it was time to go anyway so it wasn't like he could argue about it anymore. Hatter kissed Alice telling her he'd see her later.

XXXXXXXXXX

Hatter soon found himself back in the high school choir room. He was a little late, but obviously, Katherine and the others hadn't noticed. Hatter walked through the door as he heard Daniel let out a deep laugh.

"At last!" He yelled. Daniel was crouched over looking towards the wall excitedly, Hatter realized he was Merlyn, the sorcerer and Daniel's first character. "At last! He's ambitious at last! He didn't need a lecture, he needed a _wife_!"

Hatter chuckled to himself. They were practicing the first scene of the entire play, where Arthur, or as he is known at this point of the play "Wart" first met Guenevere and the nymph Nimue kidnapped Merlyn making him forget all about the future, of Lancelot, Mordred and Arthur's demise, which he saw in a vision. Hatter was technically in this scene, but he would be standing in the background as a giant shadow, which suited him, fine. Hatter looked around. Katherine sat at the piano smiling at Daniel who continued to recite his lines, a young girl, who Hatter had seen in Katherine's advanced class, stood beside Katherine looking over her shoulder at a sheet of music on the piano. In the far corner, in the seats, sat Emma, Adam and Rachel. Emma waved him over when she noticed him.

"We're almost done." Emma whispered to him as Hatter sat beside Adam. "Sorry we're taking up your practice time, but Katherine figured we could keep going until everyone showed up."

Adam smiled at Hatter, but said nothing, which was surprising. They always had something interesting to say to each other and Hatter was beginning to consider him a friend. Adam however, said nothing, leaned back in his chair, very white in the face.

"Are you okay?" Hatter whispered to him.

"I'm fine." Adam whispered back, although he sounded a bit hoarse. "Just had trouble sleeping last night is all."

Hatter shrugged and leaned forward, so he would not interrupt Daniel's scene to answer Emma's question. "It's fine with me. How many chorus members are in this scene, uh Rachel, isn't it?"

Rachel leaned forward as well, Hatter had not been able to talk with the girl much but Hatter was aware that she had been running her scenes with a few of the chorus members who were to be members of Morgan Le Fay's Court. "We've got three of them. The sweetest girls I've ever met.

Hatter smiled as he watched Rick, or Dinaden walk up beside Daniel and recite his memorized dialogue asking him what the future held for Arthur. Katherine nodded to the girl beside her, who stood up straight and began to sing.

"_Far from Day, Far from Night. Out of time, out of sight._"

The girl's voice was vibrant and eerie, the hairs on Hatter's arms rose up as she sang. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something was oddly familiar with the song. The girl, he realized, was Bella Myers, Nimue.

"_In between, earth and sea, we shall fly, Follow Me._"

Hatter watched as Daniel blinked confusedly, he turned to Rick, holding his head. "I see, I see a night, five years from now…"

"_Dry the Rain, warm the Snow, where the winds never go. Follow Me, Follow Me, Follow Me._"

"Yes." Rick said, leaning forward "What about five years from now?" Daniel didn't respond, but instead looked forward, as if in a trance. Rick, looked nervous and eventually left him standing alone as Bella continued.

"_To a cave by a Sapphire Shore. Where we'll walk through an Emerald Door and a thousand of breathless ever mores my life you shall be._

"Nimue? Is that you?" Daniel whispered as he stepped forward. "Is it time for you to take me away? No! I'm not ready! I must warn him, have I told him? Of Lancelot? Yes I have told him of Lancelot…but have I warned him of Lancelot and Guenevere? Or Mordred? No! I did not warn him of Mordred! Wait Nimue! Wait!"

"_Only you, Only I. World farewell, world goodbye. To our home, beneath the sea, we shall fly follow me."_

The melody on the piano continued. Hatter felt a little twinge in his stomach. This song sounded exactly like a Wonderlandian lullaby his mother used to sing to him when he was a boy. Perhaps not the words but the music itself had an eerie like quality to it and memories flashed through his head, of his mother, of his father, Daniel's lines echoed in his mind.

"It is done. I do not remember anything, of Lancelot and Guenevere. Or Mordred. My memory of the future is vanished. Farewell Arthur, I can no longer assist you on your quest and watch out for you. Oh, and Wart. Remember to _think_!" Daniel turned toward Bella and began to limp towards her as the music began to grow silent. Hatter took a deep breath as Daniel stood up straight and smiled, they were finished. That had been intense. Who knew that some Oyster songs could be so similar to Wonderlandian lullabies. They couldn't be connected. It was too cliché.

Katherine turned to them smiling. "Sorry guys that we took up some of your practice time, what did you think of that scene?"

Hatter, like the others, nodded their approval as Daniel and Bella smiled at them and Katherine continued. "We're going to start David and Rachel's practice now so the rest of you can go home. The chorus will be here soon but we'll start without them I guess." She watched as the four of them rose from their seats. "Oh and Adam, get some rest!" She called.

Adam grunted and waved to her as he walked out of the choir room quickly, looking paler than he had only a few minutes before. What was wrong with him? Was he really that tired? What was he doing? Hatter hoped he got some rest soon, they couldn't put on this show without an Arthur!

"Okay!" Katherine said to Hatter and Rachel as the others followed Adam out of the room. "Let's get started! I want David to stand here in center stage as the curtain comes up." She dragged Hatter to the middle of the room. "And I want you to be running around franticly, trying to find Morgan Le Fay, okay? She's hidden in a invisible castle. Your motivation is that you know Morgan Le Fay can help you get revenge on King Arthur. You'll have chocolates and other candies, which is something Morgan Le Fay wants more than anything in the world, with you to bribe her with but for now we'll fake it. Rachel and her court will be off stage until it's time but you'll talk with her trying to get her to reveal herself. We won't run 'The Persuasion' until I feel you guys are ready so don't worry about that. Okay! Let's take it from the top!"

Hatter blinked as Katherine turned on her heel and walked back to the piano. His head was still a little fuzzy from the familiarity of "Follow Me" and had barely been able to make out Katherine's rambling. He cleared his throat anyway. He had these lines memorized, it couldn't be that hard.

The choir room door suddenly opened as Hatter opened his mouth to speak. Two teenage girls stepped into the room. They were both on the short side but seemed two very different ages. They smiled at Hatter as they walked in.

"Sorry we're late Ms. Matthews." The older of the two girls said.

Katherine waved them in. "It's fine, we just started. Hurry up and stand beside Rachel. We want to get a move on!"

The two girls nodded and rushed in and a third girl from the outside struggled with the door. She was the youngest of the three obviously, and her brown eyes glittered at the sight of Hatter. It was Sally.

**A/N:**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know that the bit with Bella and Daniel isn't exactly word for word by the script but I don't have that scene memorized and Follow Me" was one of my favorites—number three on my top five Camelot songs list. If you want to hear the song "Follow Me" which I recommend, you can find it on YouTube. I fought with this chapter a lot and feel okay with how it turned out, mainly because of Sally. I just **_**had **_**to throw a girl in there that would have a crush on Hatter, I mean seriously, if you were in a play with someone like him how could you **_**not**_** have a crush?**

**I must rant once again for a moment. It's really hard to write about music, and you'll know if you've ever tried. I'm trying to not use terminology but I might slip up so ask me if you have questions.  
**

**I really need reviews. They are keeping me going and I've got a lot on my plate as of now. (two new story ideas, that I'm afraid to start writing because I know I'll abandon this project if I do. I also have school related things to do—teachers think I have no life, scholarship essays to write—and Drama Club Vice President things that take up a lot of my time too, GAH!) So yeah, reviews will motivate me to wake up early in the morning so I can write, because that is the only time I have to do it. If I am not motivated, this story will get to you at a slower pace and maybe not at all…so please, REVIEW! **


	6. Little Annoyances

**A/N:**

**Thanks so much for those reviews! It's you people who keep me going! **

**This chapter was brought to you so quickly due to being literally being snowed for two days! I was able to get my work done so I was able to spend much most of my time writing! So three cheers for me living up north! **

It was a terrible day for Hatter. When he had woken up, he had stubbed his toe hard and it felt like it was going to fall off. They had been understaffed at work for some reason and by the grace of someone were completely full the entire day. This resulted in Hatter being extremely frazzled, having to run all around the shop trying to cover everything. All while trying to keep his apparent façade, the one that apparently had gotten him into this mess in the first place, and not letting on he was about to pull his hair out of his skull. Then if that didn't make matters worse, Alice had been very late and he had not been able to spend any time with him at all. It just wasn't a good day.

Practice had not helped his mood at all so far. They had been running his scene with Morgan Le Fay for the past three days. Sally stuck to him like glue still when they weren't in character. The two hours passed very slowly. Hatter had been able to deal with a lot of things in his past, but for some reason everything that had gone on today just annoyed him. It didn't help that Katherine kept having them run the same scene over and over again.

"Something is _still _not right about it." Katherine said as they finished the scene for what felt like the hundredth time that evening. "Do it again."

Hatter sighed and nodded to her as the others got into their positions, or also known as Katherine's office, which they were calling 'backstage'. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Katherine pull Sally aside and say something to her, but he didn't think much of it. The insanity of this scene was completely juvenile and in Hatter's opinion didn't fit the rest of the play at all. He wanted to be finished with it as soon as possible and move on to more important scenes during his practices…one more time and he could go home.

"Morgan Le Fay?" Hatter called to the walls running back and forth frantically. "Morgan Le Fay? Sister of my mother? It is I Mordred, who comes to visit you! Am I near your invisible castle?" He felt rather stupid, pacing around like a complete madman, calling to the far walls of the choir room. "Can you hear me, sweet Morgan? Dear sweet Aunt Morgan? Dear sweet _Queen _Aunt Morgan? Can you not hear me?"

"Go away Mordred!" A voice called to him from the right corner of the room, it seemed echoic and ownerless, even though in reality, Hatter knew that it's owner was simply sitting in Katherine's office, testing out the new microphone to make her sound eerie and otherworldish. Hatter's first instinct was to turn towards it, and try to look at its master properly. However, Hatter stood straight ahead staring into nothing, as instructed when the voice continued. "Go away! You were a nasty little boy and I've been told you've become a nastier little man!"

Hatter scoffed. He was nowhere near _little _by any means and found being told that he was so, amusing. Hatter bowed low, trying not to break his character. "I beseech you your Majesty, just give me a moment of your time?"

He heard the far off voice sigh dramatically. "Not _now _Mordred! I'm eating my dinner and shant be finished until tomorrow morning!"

Hatter grumbled to himself, once again pacing back and forth. He paused for only a moment, and slapped a cheesy, evil grin across his face. "What a pity." Hatter said, looking into the velvet purple bag, marked with a red 'M' and currently empty. The bag had been given to him a few days previously, for the candy and other sweets that were to be in the scene. "I have chocolates."

He heard the voice, although it did pause for a moment, let out a little squeak. "Chocolates? You say you have, chocolates?"

Hatter smiled broadly, trying to make it clear to what would be the audience in front of him, that he had a devious plan, to get the strange voice to reveal itself. Thickening his accent again, he continued his dialogue. "Hard candies and caramels." He said, lifting his eyebrow ever so slightly, just to give it that extra flair that he apparently was so good at.

He could hear a few people chuckle, especially Katherine, who was once again sitting on the piano as the ominous voice let out another squeak. "H-hard candies and c-caramels?" Hatter smiled to himself, Rachel, who he knew was the ominous voice, really sounded as if she was about to crack.

"Cherry creams with, _soft _centers." Hatter said, turning his slight smile into another devilish grin and this time he lifted both eyebrows in real surprise and he heard Rachel let out a gasp that sounded like something, not entirely appropriate was going on in the back room.

"Ch-cherry creams with soft centers?" She said after she recovered. "Don't move my darling nephew! You darling aunt is on her way! Court!"

Hatter quickly turned in the opposite direction, as they had practiced earlier when he heard the door containing Rachel and the others open. He wondered how they were going to pull it off on stage. There wouldn't be a door would there? Hatter felt a few people brush past him as he thought to himself. He turned in the opposite direction, running into Sally as he did so.

He had been rather surprised to discover that Sally was going to be in the only scene that required him to work with female chorus members, but something told him she made it that way. Hatter grunted as Sally's small head rammed into his gut. Obviously she had been running.

"Oh David!" Sally squealed as Hatter doubled over, coughing and trying to catch his breath. "I'm so sorry! I—"

"Don't break character! Keep going!" Katherine called, interrupting Sally from the piano. It was apparent that she hadn't gotten the wind knocked out of her as he had and Hatter felt a twinge of annoyance with her lack of concern for him, but he had said no stops. Keep in character, right. Hatter leaned forward, grabbing Sally's shoulders and moving her to the side, before letting out one last cough and standing up straight, turning toward Rachel, who was now behind him, and bowed with an extra flourish.

"Your Majesty!" Hatter said still trying to catch his breath from the blow.

"Arise Mordred." Rachel said, adding her own flourish with her hands, wasn't that his thing? The hand flourishes was something Hatter only seemed to do. Why was she copying him? He didn't say anything of course, as she reached for his bag of what would soon contain sweets excitedly. "And give me my candy!"

"I have your candy dear Aunt." Hatter said gaining all of his composure and thrusting the bag out of her reach, just in time. "Basket and baskets of sugary perfusion!" He added dryly. "But first let us discuss what you shall do for me."

He arched his eyebrow again as Rachel giggled. Her laugh was childish and forced, it annoyed him but he didn't say anything as she continued her dialogue.

"I shall do nothing for you, nothing at all!" She said, taking a step towards him as the chorus girls began to dance around him, trying to get at his bag. "Why should I do anything for anyone? I have all that I want in life. Passionate afternoons, gluttonous nights and, slovenly mornings."

"Very well then." Hatter told her with a smirk. He began to step towards the door, preparing to leave. Hatter really wished he could leave. Today just wasn't a very good day.

"Give me my candy," Rachel said as the three chorus girls began to swarm around behind her eyeing him, especially Sally. "Or I shall have to continue eating my dining room."

Hatter paused. He was familiar with the line, but the thought of someone eating their own dining room was absolutely ridiculous. "Eating your dining room?" He recited pretending to sound interested, as he used to do when Ratty would burst into his old shop.

"And why not?" Rachel recited, taking a step towards him as the three chorus girls began to dance around him again. "My chairs are made of vegetable, my tables made of cheese and my walls are gingerbread."

"And the floor?"

"Roast beef." Rachel said proudly. Hatter shifted uncomfortably. He had no idea what this "Roast Beef" thing was and Hatter didn't like not knowing about things. He guessed it was some type of Oyster food, for Rachel always looked hungry as she said it. He'd have to get Alice to get him some. "Wall to wall. But candy I never get, so I desire it most of all."

"Then why should you be denied it?" Hatter began taking a step toward her when suddenly, Sally grabbed his arm. Hatter could feel his anger surge. What the hell was she doing? Hatter looked over at Katherine, thinking she'd tell Sally to stop but she waved him on to continue. What was going on? Struggling with Sally quite literally hanging off his arm, he tried to continue. "When all I ask is that you play a little prank," he finally got her to let go of him. "On King Arthur?"

"King Arthur?" Rachel said laughing again, completely ignoring the look Hatter gave her, his silent pleas for help, as Sally continued to poke and prod him. "Oh Wart! I used to watch him from my invisible window walking in the garden with Merlyn. He was a dear little boy. No! I do not wish to harm him!"

"No _harm_." Hatter recited. Giving Sally a look as she grabbed the hat on his head, placing it on her own. She beamed up at him, when he grabbed it back and placed it on his head, his mouth tight, trying not to scream the very inappropriate words running though his mind.

"You are the son of a wicked mother Mordred. And I know you're up to mischief." Rachel said as Hatter turned his back on her, he looked at Katherine, trying to figure out why she wasn't yelling at Sally for messing with him during a scene. Sally was behaving worse and acting more annoying than she did in the shop! Katherine didn't normally tolerate nonsense.

"No mischief at all." Hatter said dryly as he tried to shoo Sally away with his arm. He was beginning to lose his cool. Why was everyone acting as if this was normal? He took a deep breath; he had to keep in character! "Arthur is out hunting." Hatter said, after a moment, as he put his arm around Rachel trying to steer her away from Sally, in hopes that he could get away from her. "Lure him into the forest and detain him for the night."

"Detain him for the night?" Rachel said, jumping out of his reach and staring at him wide eyed. "Such games are for the afternoon! At night, I eat. And I grow more ravenous every second!"

"_Please _dear Aunt." Hatter said. He could feel the corners of his mouth twitch slightly. Sally was inching closer to him.

He saw Katherine stand up out of the corner of his eye, and signaled them to stop before Rachel could say her next line. Hatter felt himself sigh in relief. They were finally done. Sally wouldn't be hanging off of him anymore and he could go home, for Daniel, Emma and Kris were watching on the side.

"All right guys!" Katherine told them. "Good job for today! We'll stop here for now. I really like how Sally just continued to annoy David, it looked good and David's reactions were priceless so we're going to keep doing that and have all of the court members annoy him and keep him on his toes for that scene."

Hatter blinked. Was she serious? They had planned that from the beginning! And they were going to continue to bodily injure him? He looked over at Sally, who was once again beside him, staring up at him with a large worried expression on her face.

"David!" She said to him, "I'm so sorry I ran into you! Are you okay? You must hate me after I was so obnoxious! Ms. Matthews told me to! I didn't mean to overdo it! Please don't hate me! I promise I won't do it again!"

Hatter looked down at the little girl, who looked like she would cry if he told her his true feelings on the subject. He found her annoying as hell and wished she would just calm down sometimes but she was a twelve year old kid! Hatter wasn't heartless. It was probably because he had just had a rough day that he was so tense and annoyed with everything. He forced a smile and looked down at her. "Naw." Hatter said messing up her hair, which made her instantly relax. "You just knocked the wind out of me is all, yeah? I don't hate you."

He was getting his jacket on, for the evening fall air was nippy these days, when Katherine got off the phone, she had a grim expression on her face, which was very odd compared to the usually giggly and goofy Katherine.

"David, wait." Katherine called to him as she motioned the others to come closer.

"What's up?"

"I just thought you'd want to know. That was Adam's mom." Katherine said, putting her cell phone in her pocket. "He's in the hospital."

**A/N:**

**As I said earlier, I am really happy that I was able to get this chapter to you so quickly. I think it's almost ironic that in the previous chapter I was really worried about not having the time to write it, now I'm snowed in! Ha! Could it be fate? ****Anywho! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Hard to believe that we are now over the hump and Opening Night is almost upon our darling Hatter. Adam being in the hospital seems like a drawback. Will they be ready?**

**Want Chapter Seven, which will be titled Costumes and Swordplay (Hatter doesn't have a costume yet and you **_**know **_**it'll be a fun time with Hatter's fashion sense) to come sooner? Well then, you know what to do! Get me to wake up early by pressing that lovely little review button! **


	7. Costumes and Swordplay

**A/N: **

**Thank-you so, so, SO much to everyone who reviewed! It made my day!**

**I dedicate this chapter to Becca, the Hannahs, Lexi, Morgan, Kristian, David, Travis, Kevin, Sophie and Sarah. All of whom were throwing ideas at me right and left for this story during our Christmas Party the other night. When I got home I just **_**had **_**to start writing. Thanks you hooligans! **

**So you lovely people get another little snippet of the musical today, however, it isn't a scene I am all too entirely familiar with, despite it being a Mordred scene. Sadly, in my high school's production it was cut for content reasons. My script didn't have this scene as well which made me very mad, but I searched and searched and searched and this is as close as I got, sorry it took forever!**

**So without further ado, may I present, Costumes and Swordplay!**

The news of Adam's illness spread among the Camelot Cast like wildfire. Hatter could hear the whispers among his teashop from the teenagers involved in the production, talking among each other. Rumors of Adam's condition came to Hatter's ear right and left. Some said he was out, some would say he was still in, others said he wasn't even sick while still others claimed he was dead.

Hatter didn't want to believe any of them. Or truth be told he didn't _know _what to believe. Katherine had told them that she would inform them of any news, but that had been over a week ago. Until they were to be informed of his condition, practice was to resume as usual and any scenes with Arthur would be put off hold, which was most of the play.

She still put them to work of course, no breaks for them. They just worked on the scenes that didn't require Adam. Which made Hatter busier than ever—but at the same time, made it seem as if production came to a complete standstill. Many of the scenes that were practiced were done over, and over and over again, which drove Hatter mad in itself. He wanted to get something accomplished! Practices were still being held in the choir room, for whoever had taken over the theatre refused to give it back. The little bit of paper displaying when practices were and what they were doing was completely worthless now. With their Arthur gone and the unavailability of the theater, they were simply showing up and doing what they could, instead of following the schedule. Certin things involving production would have to wait. This realization seemed to cause Katherine great stress, from what Hatter could see and it was especially hard for her. Hatter didn't understand. They were only beginning the second month of practice so why did it matter that they couldn't get the technical stuff taken care of at this very moment?

The scene they were working on when they got the call was what Katherine called "his big scene" although, according to her, many of his scenes were apparently big and important but this one was the knocker. The scene where Mordred convinced the other knights to defy chivalry and goodness and join him in the quest to destroy Camelot, and Arthur forever.

The six of them, Hatter, Kris and Four Chorus Knights stood around Katherine's piano as she described what the armory was going to look like and how the scene was going to work. Each of them held a sheet of music, for the song that they were to sing. Because they were not following the schedule, Hatter had not been prepared, he hadn't looked up the song and he couldn't read the music. This was going to be bad.

"It won't be a very detailed scene," she said, running her fingers though her hair and looking through her notes. "Just the Round Table. You guys will be fighting at it, while David sits and watches gleefully. Kris will come in and give you all a lecture. Then, David will do his stuff to convince you to join him. We'll run the scene from where Lancelot starts lecturing you, seeing as we don't have chorography for any of the fight scenes."

Hatter wasn't exactly sure what Katherine had meant by 'not very detailed' if that was it. He didn't want to know what she considered detailed as she continued to talk to the knights and give them their motivation of the scene, why they were sick of chivalry and might. That seemed like a detailed scene to him, so much going on! Plus, that song he didn't know, that was going to be terrible. Katherine knew he didn't read music, or at least she knew he couldn't do it well. He had avoided the fact that the only reason he knew the song, "Seven Deadly Virtues" was because he had deliberately went against her orders and had looked it up online, and he didn't need the lecture at the moment. Hatter watched as Katherine gave Kris the okay to start the dialogue. He'd have to wing it, he realized as his heartbeat increased at the thought. Why in the hell did Lerner and Lowe, the authors, write so many songs for his character?

Within a split second, the tall gangly nerdy man who was once Kris Edison, transformed into a strong confident Frenchman, just with a change in posture and look on his face. It was an amazing transformation, almost as believable as Adam, although beside the piano and not actually walking around doing the part, Kris looked rather silly. But then again, it was quite hard to try to do the scene with a piano in the way when all of them were used to being able to move to add on to the theatrics. Hatter found that it was more believable, at least to him, if he could add perhaps a simple flair of the wrist and take a step forward towards whomever he was speaking to enhance his performance and made him more believable as he had done in the past. He wondered what he himself looked like when he recited his lines and planned to stare at himself in the bathroom mirror to see if his face changed at all when he attempted to transform into Mordred.

"'ow can you fight at zis late 'our while ze castle es still sleeping?" Kris asked grimly. "The king vill 'ere you! I beg of you, no more of zis!"

"I thought the king was away for the night." One of the knights—a young lad by the name of Kyle, according to the nametag on his shirt—asked.

"The king _is _away. As I understand it he has gone out hunting." Hatter recited smiling to himself, not because he was acting, but by the ironic similarity, for their king really _was_ away. "He's decided to spend the night."

Hatter looked over at Kris, smirking slightly, as the young man's expression grew from angered to a hopeful look. Almost as if the sudden realization came to Lancelot that Arthur was away, which meant that _his_ lover was alone.

The song was coming up, that stupid song. What would happen if he was supposed to start it off? He looked down at the piece of music for a moment, reading the name of the first singer, great, it was all of them. They would start singing together. Then someone named Knight Number One sang a few verses and then it would be Hatter's turn to sing and then all of them together again. He stared down at the piece of music that displayed his character's name. The notes scrawled on the piece of paper turned into strange squiggles underneath his untrained eyes.

When Hatter, remembering what he was doing, lifted his head again, he realized Kris was looking at him expectantly. What was he waiting for? Wait, where were they in the script? Wasn't it Kris who spoke next? Something about bidding them goodnight, but that didn't make sense. Who had the next line? Hatter turned to look at Katherine, who was also staring at him, nodding her head to continue.

A knot twisted in the pit of Hatter's stomach. It was his line! He thought for a moment, what was it? Why didn't he remember? Lines swirled through his head, trying to remember. He felt ashamed. Alice had worked so hard on getting him to remember these lines! What would happen if he couldn't remember them during the actual show? He would be a laughingstock! Well, there was the option of improvising of course, no one coming to see the show would know, but these people did. It was too late now however, he just had to improvise. What had just happened in the scene? Right, Lancelot had just realized that Arthur was gone for the night, he could just make something up along the lines of that right?

"And as I also understand it, her Majesty, Queen Gunevere is quite alone in her bedchamber as of now, poor soul." He stared at Kris, begging silently for help. That, was one of the stupidest improvised lines ever. He was losing his touch. It was obvious that Guenevere would be alone. Why wasn't Katherine saying anything, correcting him?

"I shall bid you goodnight." Kris said quickly and nodding to Hatter who stared at him, still wide-eyed. What kind of line was that? That couldn't be the right line! What was he going to say in contrast to that? Where in the hell were they in this scene?

Hatter opened his mouth to speak, not entirely sure if he should continue or ask Katherine where they were. To his surprise, Kris glared at him, still totally in character. "And for goodness sake! Try to remember zat you are gentlemen!"

There it was! It was coming back to him now! Hatter smiled in relief, before turning his head ever-so-slightly. He had practiced this next line many nights ago, trying to develop a bad enough French accent to make fun of Lancelot, it hadn't taken him long.

"_Zat you are gentlemen!_" Hatter mocked, his voice raising an octave higher than he had anticipated. "_For goodness sake!_"

The knights all laughed simultaneously, as they were supposed to. Good. Hatter was back on track. He nodded to Kris in thanks, who returned the nod and went to sit beside Katherine on the piano.

Hatter looked from knight to knight, eyeing them all. He had to make up for the terribly obvious mess up with the lines. "Now Milords," Hatter said sneering, thickening his accent "delicious little rumors as I hear it have been spreading throughout the castle."

"Of course, Mordred!" The Knight named Kyle said. Was he the only one who spoke out of all of them? "The rumors state that if we defy the laws of chivalry and all that other nonsense that we will be held before the grand jury for high treason!" The other knights nodded and grunted in agreement. Hatter knew that at this point in the play, these knights were supposed to be getting discouraged and bored with the laws of the Round Table and it was Mordred's job to attempt to manipulate them. Hatter scoffed, he could do _that _with his eyes closed. After all, he had done it for years.

"Such treason is amongst us." Hatter said thickening his accent a slight more, and raising his eyebrow. "Yes, treason this very day! This very hour!" He gently gestured towards Kris at the piano, who was looking at the piece of paper sitting on top of it. "Treason cries out for justice. _Our_ kind of justice. Are you with me Milords, or would you prefer to sit around like tired old fools around a table? Talking, and talking…and _talking_."

The sides of Hatter's mouth twitched as the knights began to look down at the sheets of music in front of them. He took a deep breath as Katherine, sat up straight, hands at the ready to bang on her piano. He flexed his sweaty palms nervously. It was time.

There was silence for a moment, as the men all lifted their heads one by one and looked at each other. Hatter lifted an eyebrow, they all looked just as nervous as he felt. A little bubble of hope swelled up in the pit of his stomach. Could they not read music either?

It wasn't until Katherine sighed and began fishing in her pocket, did Hatter realize that the reason they were waiting, was so she could answer her ringing mobile. He had been worrying so much that he hadn't heart it ring. Hatter took a deep breath as she got up to answer it; he wasn't going to get out of this. What was going to happen when they all realized he couldn't sing the song because he didn't know the music? Hatter felt ashamed. He always tried his best to know what was going on, after all he had to back in Wonderland or someone would have the upper hand and he couldn't have that. It had been his way to survive and had been second nature to him. Why was it so hard for him to do it now? True, he had not known that they were practicing this scene today, due to the fact they were no longer going by the schedule with Adam being in the hospital and all but he should have been more prepared. He should have seen it coming. This had been one of the only scenes that did not require King Arthur and they had yet to still practice it. He was losing his touch.

Katherine came back quickly, shoving her mobile into her pocket. "Change of plans." She said gesturing toward them. "Emma just called, she's at the theater and the costume shop is available. It won't be open much longer so I want Kris and David over there right now to find their costumes with Emma. We can do this another day."

Hatter felt himself instantly relax. If he was at this costume shop thing, whatever it was, then he didn't have to sing the song! He could go home tonight and look it up online or something but for now, he was free. He grabbed his jacket and was out of the choir room before Katherine could say another word.

XXXXXXXXXXX

It had only taken him a few minutes to realize that he had no way of actually getting to the theater. He could walk of course, like he usually did but it was an awfully long way from the high school in contrast to his teashop or flat. Luckily, Kris had driven up beside him almost immediately in his car and had offered him a ride.

They got to the theater quickly and almost immediately, Hatter noticed that something was different about the place. It seemed, busier. He could hear music inside the theater up on the stage, although the door was closed and he could not see them. A large poster stood beside the now put up table labeled _Cats: The Musical!_ Was this the reason they were not allowed to use the theater because of whatever this was? Hatter leaned forward to get a better look at the large poster; he studied it carefully and barely acknowledged Kris standing behind him, reading over his shoulder. The show was about cats obviously, by the title and cat drawing on the poster, but it didn't say anything else about the show itself. One of the things that stood out to Hatter however, was the dates of the production. It seemed that this show, _Cats_ was going to run until the final month of their practices.

"It sucks doesn't it?" Kris said after a moment.

"What do you mean?" Hatter asked.

"The fact that this musical is going on here during most of our practice." Kris said as they turned away from it and went down the hallway opposite the music filled door. "It's going to put us in major crunch time."

Hatter realized almost immediately, this was a problem. He suddenly understood what was causing Katherine so much greif. No matter how much they practiced in that choir room, it was going to be hard to perform in the actual theatre if they didn't practice in it. Or at least the size of where they were would be practicing. He had heard Katherine mutter something about "sets" beforehand. According to what he overheard, these "sets"-whatever they were, couldn't start to be built until these guys were finished. It seemed like a major problem. Would they be ready?

XXXXXXXXXX

Moments later, Hatter couldn't believe his eyes. The Costume Shop as it turned out was theatre terms for "room filled with amazing costumes". Rows of costumes filled the room, every type of costume you could imagine. Large lifelike animal costumes, to modern day and everyday lifelike costumes, to crazy futuristic costumes that he had seen people wear on television on the strange, but extremely entertaining Syfy channel. Hatter could feel himself smile as he stared at all of the varieties, he couldn't wait to get stared. He had to admit that he was rather fond of clothing and in his opinion had great fashion sense.

They had found Emma quickly; she was trying on a wedding dress for the scene where she and Arthur got married in the beginning of the play. Kris didn't seem to be overly excited about having to try on costumes but the trio split up, looking for anything that would work for Camelot. Hatter walked along the massive isles in awe. Never, had he seen such an odd bunch of clothes in his entire life, not even in Wonderland. It wouldn't be hard for him to find something to wear for his part, seeing as he only needed two outfits, one for when his character arrived and one for when he was living in the castle.

As he scanned the isles, Hatter found himself stopping at one of them. This was the wrong isle, not a medieval outfit to be seen, but it was the little blue dress that caught his eye. It wasn't exactly like his Alice's dress, more similar to the Disney version but it was enough. He wondered what she was up to, as he ran his hand over the soft material. Would they get to see each other tonight? Or would they be too tired from their busy days to even talk? Hatter missed Alice, more than ever. Out of all the positive things about being involved in Camelot, not being able to spend time with her was it's major downfall.

He found Kris and Emma again after a few more moments of scanning the random isles. They had found the correct isle and were scanning the costumes themselves. Hatter walked down the isle and nodded to them both, though they seemed engrossed in the costumes they were looking at.

Hatter began to look at all of the costumes critically. What would Mordred wear? Well for his first costume probably not something so nice. After all, he had traveled from Scotland—wherever that was—to England by himself. Hatter still didn't know where Scotland was on the World Map but it seemed like it's own country. It was referenced to more than once in the play between himself and Arthur so perhaps it was close, but at the same time it was an entire country away. Hatter pulled out a fancy looking, dark velvet shirt. This definitely wouldn't work for him, it was too fancy for his character. However, Hatter realized it would be perfect for Adam, when he recovered.

"What do you think of this?" Hatter asked as he turned toward his companions. "This is more of a King Arthur type of outfit, yeah? Not really Mordred's style."

Kris smiled and agreed. "We should take it with us, just in case. It doesn't look like it'll fit him but now that Adam is sick, we may have to get a different King Arthur."

Hatter nodded and added it to the pile. "Do we know what's wrong with him yet?"

Kris shook his head. "No." He said sadly. "Katherine said that something seems to be wrong with his spleen, that it's bleeding or something."

That wasn't good. Or was it? Hatter didn't know much about Oyster medicine, but from what he had learned by watching Doctor programs on the television was that being in the hospital was a very bad thing, and usually things were turning for the worse if the liver was failing—but he never heard anything about the spleen. Was that serious? Was Adam in danger of dying? What about Camelot, who would be King Arthur?

"From what I heard in the grapevine," Kris added, nodding in Hatter's direction. "That Katherine has two candidates picked out from the main cast to replace Adam but she's waiting to say anything until Adam's test results come back."

"Really?" Hatter asked. "Who?"

"Like I said it's just a rumor, but I heard that she's considering you and Rick for the part, she'd just call in an understudy or one of the chorus members to take your place."

Hatter felt his stomach plummet. What was it with Katherine and giving him random parts he didn't ask for? He couldn't do King Arthur! He didn't have the training or the _time_! Hatter barely had time for the part of Mordred! What would happen, if Katherine approached him about being Arthur? If he accepted, he would have to learn a million new lines, a couple thousand songs and he would never be at home. Never be with Alice. The thought made him sick. He looked over at Kris, who's back was now to him, scanning the armor. This was serious, why did it have to be him? Hatter looked over at Emma, hoping to bring up the topic with her, but then stopped dead. The garment-if you could even call it that- she was examining in her hands was a pale yellow with a medium brown slithery on the front. It looked plain, quite too plain for a queen.

"Oh, no, no, no." Hatter muttered, taking the garment from her and putting it back. "That color is all wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"A queen wouldn't wear that." He told her scanning the giant gowns again. "You need to wear more reds and blues, that sort of thing. A Queen would never wear somthing so plain. You need somthing more elegant, yeah? With some type of lace or golden trimming, something not to flashy, but just enough so that you give off that regal appearance." Hatter ignored the look Emma gave him as he continued to scan the gowns, he knew the way he sounded but he spoke the truth! "Something like this." He flashed a dimpled smile at her as he pulled out a long maroon colored dress. The edges were layered in a beautiful golden trim and looked just about to be Emma's size.

Emma eyed him uncomfortably. Hatter had gotten that look before and he knew the way he was sounding. The way he talked about clothes it was hard for anyone to believe that he wasn't gay. It was hilarious going clothing shopping with Alice, for people just assumed. Hatter didn't mind though, he wouldn't judge someone by their sexual preference or just because they knew a thing or two about looking good! Others would just have to do the same.

Anfter awhile, Emma spoke. "Are you sure it isn't too flashy?" She asked hesitantly. "And are you sure it's what a Queen of England would wear?"

"Think about who you're talking to Em!" Kris called from the dressing room, he was trying on armor. "The guy _is_ British! He'd know more about what one would wear then the two of us put together!"

Hatter arched an eyebrow and gestured the dress toward her. Kris had a point, although it wasn't because he was British. These Americans had never come face to face with a Queen. The Queen of Hearts had been very partial to the color red, as was he. Perhaps this was why he thought of Guenevere wearing the color. He smiled to himself as Emma finally took the dress from his outstretched arms.

XXXXXXXXXX

About an hour later, Hatter emerged from the dressing room, straightening the jacket he wore as he looked at himself in the mirror. It had been decided rather quickly that he should wear a black tunic with some type of vest. Kris had suggested that Hatter try wearing a kilt, for apparently it was a Scottish thing. The idea however, was quickly turned down when he learned that a kilt looked an awful lot like a women's skirt. The outfit he wore now however, a black tunic with forest green cloth vest with black string, fit him well. Hatter tilted the black fedora on his head and eyed his other side. The color green looked good on him, and stood out from the black tunic and the black riding boots he wore. Yes, this was most definitely one of the costumes he was going to be wearing. Probably his second one, since it was clean. Hatter had thought about it and decided that for his first costume, the one where he first was introduced in the play, a worn out red vest may suit that situation.

Out of the corner of the mirror, Hatter could see Emma come out of the woman's section of the dressing room. She wasn't wearing the outfit he had pointed out to her earlier, for she had already tried that on and chosen it. Now, she was looking for light blues, as Hatter had suggested, clothing that matched Kris, for it would be the peak of their estranged love affair when Mordred stepped onto the scene at the very beginning of Act Two and they should match. Or at least that's what Emma felt. Hatter wasn't sure if this was a good idea at all, or if it made it look to tacky, but the gown she was wearing did look good on her, but it reminded him of Alice's dress, like the other one he had found. He felt a pain in his chest as he thought about it. God, did he miss her!

"Pretty good." Emma nodded to him, as she approached "But you'll have to lose the hat."

"What?" Hatter asked. The words seemed incoherent to him as Emma smiled, reaching for his beloved hat, pulling it off his head. He hadn't realized that! Although he knew that he would look ridiculous with his modern day fedora in a medieval tunic and vest, Hatter felt as if a part of him was being pried from his fingertips, a part of him Hatter didn't want to lose. What was it? His time with Alice? The fact he didn't know what he was doing as far as his other songs went perhaps? What about the fact that any day now, Katherine could ask him to take a different part that he wasn't prepared for? A part he didn't have time to learn?

He suddenly heard the sound of metal clanging against metal, prying him from his thoughts. Kris came up behind him, wearing a light blue tunic; very similar to the gown Emma wore. In his hands, he held two swords.

"I found these in the back," Kris told them. "We can use these for the fight scenes on stage."

"But I don't use a sword." Hatter muttered taking one of the swords handed to him.

Kris shrugged. "You'll be bound to have one, and I think Katherine wants you attempt you to do some type of sword fighting, although it won't last long, since your character is all talk and no action, but it'll be cool just to _have _one!"

Hatter took the large silver sword by the hilt. It looked and felt quite a lot like Charlie's sword, although not quite as old and fragile. He gently touched the edges and while they looked sharp, he realized that they were in fact quite dull and couldn't hurt anyone unless he _really _took a whack at them.

When he looked at himself in the mirror, Hatter couldn't believe his eyes. Standing there, in his place, was the evil diabolical Mordred. His eyebrow was arched as he stared at Hatter with his piercing dark brown eyes and devious dimpled smirk. The sword he held in his hand was elevated slightly, as to seem like a threat but able to be thrown down in surrender if need be. Mordred's hair, which was scruffy and out of place-as if a hat had just been removed—made him look even more disheveled and untrustworthy. It really _was _Mordred. _N__ot _Hatter, that was for sure. Whoever it was, was confident in what they were doing, and prepared for whatever was about to be thrown at him. Yet, when he turned around, all he saw behind him was Kris, admiring his own sword.

**A/N:**

**I have to give a MAJOR shout out to NotWhoUR on DeviantART. She posted a Coverpage for Hatter's Hobby onto her account and it looks really good! Thank you so much NotWhoUR! You can find the link to it on my profile.**

**Hope you liked it! I want to know your opinions of this chapter, I really do. Of course, I won't know what you think unless you press that little review button!**

**I'll will wish you all well right now, just in case I don't have time to write another chapter before then. So, Happy Hanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and Ramadan! Whatever it is you celebrate, I hope you have a great one! **


	8. Waltzing with Alice

**A/N:**

**Well, I'm back! I was hoping to get this to you guys sooner, with the winter break and all, but I have found that I have had no time whatsoever to get my work done, let alone writing fanfiction. Then something happened when I came back from break. Anyway, sorry about the wait! I hope that this chapter makes up for it.**

**Let's get goin'! **

Hatter slammed the door shut with a loud _bang_! That practice had been one of the worst practices in his life and to be totally honest, he had enough with the scene with Morgan Le Fay. Maybe it wouldn't be as terrible, if Sally and the others wouldn't constantly hang on him as he tried to concentrate on the scene. It was a complete disaster; despite what Katherine said and took all of Hatter's concentration to just remember his lines for the scene. It didn't help that he had to avoid Katherine like the plague when it was all over either. He felt bad about it, after all he liked Katherine, but what if she asked him to play Arthur? It was just a rumor, true but they hadn't heard a thing about Adam yet and it was only two more months until the show. The new Arthur would need time to learn his new lines and his new songs. If Katherine asked him to do it, she would be desperate, and she helped talk him into it before. If Hatter accepted, then he would never be home, or with Alice.

If she was home. Hatter turned on the light of the darkened apartment to find it empty. Odd. She usually was home before he was these days. He called her name, just to make sue that she wasn't in the bedroom, or the shower—something he would have enjoyed. Alas, she was nowhere to be seen.

Hatter sighed and lowered himself out on the couch. This practice had taken a lot out of him, for Sally had decided to use his arms as a jungle gym and the others had fallen suit. It was insane the way those crazy kids could make him so exhausted. In fact, he hadn't realized how tired he actually was until that very moment. He closed his eyes for a moment, and soon was dead to the world. That is, until he heard someone calling his name.

His chocolate brown eyes jolted open to find Alice staring down at him, her expression grim. Her hair was in a ponytail like she did when she was at the dojo but she was also wearing an apron and smelled of tea, a lovely combination.

"Hello love." Hatter said as he yawned. "What time is it?"

"Six." Alice replied dryly. "How long have you been home?"

"Almost an hour." Hatter answered as he stood from the couch and stepped forward to kiss her. It was good to see her and he wanted her to know. However her mouth was tight as they made contact; in fact she just stood there. Hatter paused and looked at her concerned. Was something wrong?

She must have seen the questioning look in his eye, for she glared at him. "Why didn't you come by the tea shop?" Alice asked, her eyebrow aching.

"Because," Hatter replied as he resumed his seat on the couch, perplexed by her odd behavior. "It would have been closed by the time I got there."

"You could have come down and helped us clean up." Alice said. "Sometimes I wonder where your priorities are these days."

Hatter looked at her, very confused. What was she talking about? Priorities? Alice seemed to notice the dumbstruck look on his face, for she continued.

"You're never home anymore, and I'm stuck with taking care of _your _shop after I've had a long day at the dojo! And what are you doing? Taking a _nap_!" Alice snapped, turning towards Hatter with such anger that he actually recoiled on instinct. Why was she so mad? It wasn't like he asked for this! It was just how the play practices were scheduled. Didn't Alice realize given the choice, he would rather be at his shop or with her? Didn't she _tell _him to do the practice and she would take over? Why was she whining about it?

"What are you on about now? You were the one who wanted me to take the part in the first place! Hatter asked, his tone rising, as he stood up and faced Alice, who stood her ground and continued to glare at him.

"Well I thought it would be good for you!" Alice said, her tone level but her eyes ablaze with irritation. "You needed a hobby and something for stress."

Hatter blinked for a moment. _Stress _huh? Was what all this was about? The whole reason why he was going through all this, because everyone thought he was stressed? Anger rose in Hatter—although he wasn't entirely sure as to why as he glared at Alice.

"Who's stressed?" He yelled, "Why do you keep sayin' I'm stressed? _I wasn't stressed Alice_! Nowhere near it! But now I am, thanks to this mad charade! First off, I've got delinquents hanging all over me, while I'm trying to remember those damn lines and where I am supposed to go. I only know one of my songs, and I can't read music for the life of me so that is going to obviously end badly and last but not least, I have to avoid Katherine just in case she offers me a larger part because our lead is still in the hospital with who knows what. I know that if Katherine offers me the part, between the two of you I'll end up taking it too. Look what happened last time."

"So it's my fault then?" Alice snapped, her eyes slits as she stared him down.

"Well," Hatter snapped back. "You sure didn't make things easier! I swear Alice, sometimes I wish I hadn't followed you though the Looking Glass in the first place. My life would be much more simpler."

He regretted it the moment he said it, Alice's expression turned from pure anger to hurt, her soft blue eyes suddenly moist. Hatter opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, there was a slam of the bedroom door and Alice no longer stood before him. Hatter followed her immediately only to find she had locked the bedroom door.

"Alice?" Hatter asked as he wiggled the doorknob of the bedroom door and knocked. No answer. He cursed inwardly at himself. Why did he have to say such obvious lies? He had been running on emotion, negative emotions—one of the curses of constantly being around the Oysters, but did he truly regret following Alice? Not in a million years. Why had he said that?

He waited by the door for a few more minutes, listening to the silence within and leaning his forehead against the wooden frame. Surely she knew he hadn't meant it! Despite being so strong, Alice was a delicate person when it came to relationships, and Hatter knew for a while she had doubted his love for her. Hatter had thought, after she had accepted his marriage proposal that she knew that he wanted to be with her forever. Did he just mess it all up?

Hatter couldn't take it anymore. He went to the couch, sat down and stared at the floor; anything was better than standing on the wrong side of that door. The minutes dragged by and Hatter continued to curse inwardly at himself. A car outside screeched past the apartment, which caused Hatter to look up, out of his trance.

His eyes fell upon the little red book labeled _Mordred_. On instinct, Hatter reached for it and found himself rereading the Morgan LeFay scene. It was because of this scene that he had been so irritable and caused him to say all those cruel things. Or at least, right now that was what he was going to tell himself. Truly, he was enjoying being involved with the play and all the friends he was making, even crazy little Sally. He wouldn't have been involved at all if Alice hadn't talked him into it.

As Hatter came to the end of the scene, he felt his stomach churn as he began to read the lyrics in the script that contained the song _The Persuasion _that he had to sing with Morgan LeFay. He had never really looked at it, but it appeared that his role in the song was to convince Morgan LeFay to trap Arthur, like he asked in the scene. Apparently, they were to waltz during the song. What was _waltz? _Since he had nothing better to do, and Alice wasn't going to be coming out of the bedroom so he could apologize, Hatter decided to look up waltzing online. It would be good to do something productive at the moment.

Waltzing was a dance. Great. Something else he didn't really know how to do. He studied the videos of couples dancing, since he didn't have anything else to do. It looked complicated.

"What are you doing?"

Hatter spun around to find himself face to face with Alice, who had just come out of the bedroom. Her eyes were red and puffy, as she leaned forward to look at the computer screen. Her mascara was running from the crying as well. Hatter felt his stomach churn.

"Alice," He began. "I—"

Before he could finish, she grabbed his hand and placed it around her waist. "You put your hand here," She whispered as she put her other hand on his shoulder. "and I put mine here."

She looked up at him with her soft blue eyes, they still looked hurt, but they didn't leave his face as he gently pulled her closer. His eyebrow arched, as she didn't protest. Was she not angry with him anymore?

Hatter looked toward the couple on the online video dancing. He took a step back; she followed him, her eyes never leaving his face. Hatter took a step to the side, as did Alice. His heart was beating against his chest, as they began to spin around, everything else around them a blur, all expect each other for the moment, this one blissful moment. He wasn't sure if they were waltzing, but whatever they were doing, it felt right. As the video's music ended, they began to slow their steps. When the music ended all together, they remained suspended in each other's arms. The brown eyes stared into the blue ones, as he inched closer, his lips hovering above hers, afraid to go further.

"Alice," He whispered, his stubble almost brushing against her face, "I'm sorry."

"I am too." Alice whispered back, her breathing heavy. "I've just missed you is all and it was just one of those days."

"I should have come down to the shop to see if you needed any help." Hatter said, resting his forehead on her own. "I'll do that from now on, yeah? I owe you."

Suddenly, their lips crashed against one another's feverishly. Hatter moaned as she began to deepen the kiss and run her arms up and down his back. He had missed this. Her touch, even though his t-shirt was making his skin shiver. He responded with the same enthusiasm, scooping her up into his arms and carrying her into the bedroom.

**A/N:**

**We needed some Hatter and Alice action…after all, both of them have been working very, very hard and deserve a little one on one time. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! **

**There may be a delay in chapters for a while. My school is doing the play "Our Town" for the spring and I have been cast as the Stage Manager (not the actual stage manager backstage but the character—who basically narrates the play and has two to three full pages of lines every couple minutes and goes off on long winded descriptions...all in three acts.) Practice is five days a week after school for three hours, then I have to do all my homework, then line memorization and then I have to look for college scholarships and by that point I'm usually too tired to do any writing. ****I will get it done I promise but it may take a little longer than usual to update, even if I wake up earlier most days. As faithful readers, I felt you deserved to know what was going on. **

**Don't forget to review! It makes me smile a lot!**


	9. The Truth About Arthur

**A/N:**

**Well, obviously I did find the time to write after all, I was worried for nothing! This chapter is also much longer than the previous one, hope you enjoy it!**

**I dedicate this chapter to Brumeier and Alaina Downs, who have taken the time to review every single chapter so far and would even make small comments on my obnoxiously long author's notes! Because of this I was going to dedicate the final chapter to them but I was feeling appreciative and wanted to do it early. Thanks, you guys rock!**

**Forward, to Camelot! **

The next day, Hatter came to practice with a spring in his step. His mood was significantly better than it had been within the past week, Hatter assumed he had to thank Alice for that from the previous evenings pleasurable situation including the fact that she had met him early at the teashop and they got to spend a bit more time together. It made him feel incredibly happy. Nothing could ruin his mood.

He was even early for practice. Music was pouring from the choir room already; they were practicing a song apparently. Hatter smiled to himself as he stepped into the room. Emma stood by the piano as Katherine plugged at the keys. They were the only ones in the room and they didn't seem to be playing a Camelot song. They looked up as Hatter approached.

"Ready to go today?" Katherine asked him, with a smile.

Hatter nodded eagerly. "You bet, I'm ready for anything. What are we doing?"

"Today we'll be running Guenevere's execution scene with the entire cast, minus Adam…hey David," Katherine said, "Do you think that you could do a scene with Emma while we wait for everyone to get here?"

Hatter blinked. To his knowledge, Mordred didn't have any scenes with Queen Guenevere, did he? The confusion seemed to be obvious on his face for she continued.

"I need to you do a scene as King Arthur. Emma really needs to practice it and we can't put it off anymore."

Hatter felt his stomach drop. All those days of avoiding Katherine were for naught now. Kris seemed to have been correct. "What scene?"

"We need to do the scene where Guenevere and Arthur first meet. The song "Camelot" is in this scene too and we'll need you to sing it. Now before you begin to panic, it's an easy song so you won't have any trouble and it's done a lot like "Seven Deadly Virtues" is done. You can talk through the whole song if you need to." She said as she thrust a script in his hand.

"This is when they first meet." Katherine told him. "Arthur is really shy and Guenevere is kind of a spoiled brat. Arthur is smitten with Guenevere the moment he sees her. She's just run away from her carriage and has been praying to St. Genevieve saying that she doesn't want to marry the King of Camelot, and Arthur, who's been spying on her from a tree falls flat on his face in front of her."

He wasn't exactly sure what to say. He didn't want to sing, and he didn't want the part of Arthur. This really felt familiar, almost like how Katherine got him to audition the first time. Why did Katherine think she always had to trick him into doing these types of things? Although, he knew that if she had asked, he would have turned her down. Now, it was too late. He could try to completely ruin it and be as bad as he could, but that wouldn't be fair to Emma, who probably really _did_ need to practice her scenes with Arthur, even though they currently didn't have one. It wouldn't be fair to her to try to mess it up with bad acting, especially if she needed help with the scene. Hatter nodded to her stiffly as he opened the script that had been handed to him and sighed heavily. This was going to be difficult. Arthur was a much different character from Mordred, especially at the very beginning of the play. In fact, the way it was written Arthur seemed to behave more like a young boy something Hatter had not done in a long time. He would just have to do it.

"A thousand pardons, Milady." Hatter read giving a stiff bow. He straightened up quickly, as the script told him to; she began to run for the door. "Wait! Don't run!"

Emma stopped and turned to him, fear written clearly upon her face, very much in character. "You lie! You'll leap at me and throw me to the ground."

Hatter blinked at her, when he was a young boy, such a statement would have perplexed him, or at least he thought it would. Arthur at this point, still thought like a boy so wouldn't a statement like that perplex him too? "I won't do any such thing." He read as to took a hesitant step towards her, Emma took a step backwards.

"Then you'll twist my arm and tie me to a tree!"

"But I won't."

"Then you'll sling me over your shoulder and carry me off!"

Guenevere sure was a drama queen. Hatter thought to himself, as he held up his free hand, the one not holding the script, up in defense. "No, no, no! I swear it! By the Sword Excalibur! I swear I won't touch you."

"Why not?" Emma said suddenly, and to Hatter's actual surprise, turning towards him angrily, actual venom in her voice. "How dare you insult me in this fashion! Do my looks repel you?"

"No!" Hatter said taking a step back; Emma was actually scaring him a bit. "You're beautiful." He added feebly.

"Well, then?" Emma snapped, hands on her hips. "We're alone. I'm completely defenseless. What kind of a cad are you? Apologize at once."

"I apologize." Hatter said at once. He wasn't exactly sure about this scene. When was Arthur going to man up? He seemed so weak at the moment, very different from the rest of the play. "I'm not certain what I have done, but from the depths of my heart, I apologize."

"Ah!" Emma said after a moment of eyeing him. "I think I know. You heard my praying."

"I couldn't help it, Milady. You were praying rather loudly."

Emma took another step towards Hatter, who made himself shrink back just a bit. He felt that Arthur would do so in the situation. Hatter had never seen this scene between Arthur and Guenevere, so he had no idea how Adam had interpreted Arthur at this point of the play, but Hatter had the feeling he would have done the same.

"And you know who I am?" Emma asked him.

"You're Guenevere."

"Yes, of course. You're afraid because I may be your Queen. That accounts for your respectful, polite, despicable behavior."

"Milady, I would never harm you for any reason." Hatter read as she eyed him. "And as for what to do with you, I am at a loss. I know you are to be Queen and I should escort you back to your carriage. At the same time, you're a maiden in genuine distress. It's chivalry versus country. I can't quite determine which call to obey."

"You'd better decide quickly." Emma said, looking around her as she did so. "They'll soon reach the carriage and discover I'm gone. Then all of Camelot will be searching for me. At least that will be exciting. Unless of course everyone in Camelot is like you and they all go home to deliberate."

Hatter paused for a minute. What would Adam to in this situation? Guenevere was obviously insulting Arthur. The script told him that he was "thrown off balance, enamored, captivated and overcome by a great sense of inadequacy" whatever that really meant. Hatter sighed dramatically and whined. "Oh, why isn't Merlyn here! He usually sensed when I need him and appears. Why does he fail me now?"

"Who?"

"Merlyn." Hatter read, still slightly whining. "My teacher. He would know immediately what to do. I'm not accomplished at thinking, so I have Merlyn do it for me. He's the wisest man alive. He lives backwards."

"I beg your pardon?"

"He lives backwards." Hatter repeated, taking a step towards her and Emma did not move. "He doesn't age. He youthens. He can remember the future so he can tell you what you'll be doing in it. Do you understand?"

This time, it was Emma who took a step towards Hatter, who looked away. If Arthur was smitten, as Katherine had put it, then he would look away. It was almost like when he and Alice were on the boat back in Wonderland, where Hatter had told Alice that he would go back with her to her world. At that time, Hatter wasn't sure if he had been "smitten" exactly, but he had felt a little anxious when Alice wouldn't take her eyes off of him. Hatter felt Arthur would have felt the same.

"Of course I don't understand." Emma said. "But if you mean he's some sort of fortune-teller, I'd give a year in Paradise to know mine. I can never return to my own castle, and I absolutely refuse to go on to that one."

"You refuse to go on…" Hatter read looking up at her, he thought about Alice, how would he have felt if she had said something to him along those lines? He wouldn't feel very happy. "ever?"

"Ever. My only choice is…don't stare." Emma said, even though Hatter hadn't really been staring at her, his bad. "It's rude. Who are you?"

"Actually," Hatter read, "they call me Wart." So Arthur didn't want Guenevere to know who he actually was. How curious. Although, Hatter could see why after what Guenevere had just said.

"Wart? What a ridiculous name. Are you sure you heard them properly?"

"It's a nickname. It was given to me when I was a boy."

Emma stared at Hatter for a moment, who felt obligated to look away again. She really was staring at him intently and it really was beginning to make him feel uncomfortable. Only Alice should stare at him so, even if they were simply acting.

"You're rather sweet, in spite of your name." Emma said after a minute of this. "And I didn't think I'd like anyone in Camelot. Imagine riding seven hours in a carriage on the verge of hysteria, then seeing that horrible castle rising in the distance, and running away." Emma giggled slightly as she added, "then having a man plop from a tree like an overripe apple…you must admit for my first day away from home it's quite a plateful. If only I were not alone. Wart, why don't you…is it _really_ Wart?"

Hatter nodded.

"Wart, why don't you run away with me?" Emma asked, her face brightening up as she turned to him, apparently quite excited by the thought.

"I?" Hatter read, he felt that Arthur would be also excited, but at the same time would be nervous about it as well. "Run away…with you?"

"Of course. As my protector. Naturally, I would be brutalized by strangers. I expect that. But it would be dreadful if there were no one to rescue me. Think of it! We can travel the world. France, Scotland, Spain…"

Hatter chuckled. "What a dream you spin, and how easily I could be caught up in it but I can't Milady." He shied away as her face dropped in disappointment. "To serve as your protector would satisfy the prayers of the most fanatic cavalier alive. But I must decline."

She looked at him, very much hurt by his refusal. "You force me to stay?"

"Not at all."

"But you are the only one I know in Camelot. Whom else can I turn to?"

"Milady," Hatter read, determined. "if you persist in escaping, I'll find someone trustworthy and brave to accompany you."

"Then do so immediately. There's not much time."

Hatter stopped for a minute to turn the page. He noticed, as he did so, the song was coming up. Hatter's stomach twisted slightly, but Katherine had told him it was for Emma's benefit-even though he very much doubted it. Besides, if this song was anything like "Seven Deadly Virtues" he could talk through most of the song and follow the tune if necessary.

"Oh," Hatter read, taking a step towards Emma with urgency, he felt that Arthur-who he knew wanted Guenevere to stay-would give it his all to try one last time to convince her to stay. "do look around you, Milady. Reconsider. Camelot is unique. We have an enchanted forest where the Fairy Queen, Morgan Le Fay, lives in an invisible castle." He came up behind her and gestured to his left, as if the invisible castle were in front of him. "Most unusual. We have a talking owl named Archimedes. Highly original." He gestured to the opposite side of the room. "We have unicorns with silver feet. The _rarest _kind. And we have far and away the most equitable climate in all the world. Ordained by decree! Extremely uncommon."

"Oh, come now." Emma said, sitting on a chair, not believing him.

Hatter looked towards Katherine. Her fingers were on the piano, ready to go. Hatter's heart fluttered a bit. He took a deep breath. It wasn't a difficult song, he could talk through it like his other one. He could do this.

"It's true!" Hatter read.

_Ping!_

"It's true!"

_Pah!_

"The crown has made it clear: The climate must be perfect all the year."

He looked over at Katherine, who nodded to him. Hatter took another deep breath. He couldn't let his lack of knowledge in music get to him. Just have fun with it. If he could do this, perhaps he could learn Mordred's other songs as well.

"_A law was made a distant moon ago here, July and August cannot be too hot; And there's a legal limit to the snow here. In Camelot." _

Hatter was doing it! It helped that he was following Katherine's piano, but he was actually singing a song that he didn't know. Alice would be excited to hear about this. He sat down beside Emma, whose eyebrow arched as he continued.

"_Camelot! Camelot! I know it sounds a bit bizarre; But in Camelot, Camelot! That's how conditions are." _

Emma rolled her eyes and turned away from him not believing him. On instinct, Hatter placed his free hand on her shoulder. Emma obviously wasn't expecting this, for she turned around, genuinely surprised.

_"The rain may never fall till after sundown. By eight the morning fog must disappear. In short there's simply not, a more congenial spot, for happ'ly-ever-aftering then here, in, Camelot."_

"And I suppose the autumn leave fall in neat little piles." Emma said sarcastically as she stood up and the music continued to play. Hatter got up quickly and followed her.

"Oh, no Milady." He read, "They blow away completely. At night of course."

"Of course." Emma said once again rolling her eyes. She moved away from him, as if to leave. On instinct again, Hatter leapt after her, blocking her way. A memory flashed though his head of a time in Wonderland, where he and Alice were chasing each other around a tree, arguing. He looked over at Katherine, who was smiling, and nodded to him, waiting for him to start singing again.

_"Camelot! Camelot!"_

Hatter smiled, mostly to himself as he guided Emma to the middle of the room. _"I know it gives a person pause. But in Camelot, Camelot! Those are the legal laws."_

Emma smiled slightly as Hatter pointed to the horizon, or what he assumed would have been the horizon if they were actually there as he continued.

"_The snow may never slush upon the hillside. By nine p.m the moonlight must appear."_

Hatter turned to Emma, and looked into her eyes as he felt that Arthur would do so. Emma looked into his gaze intensely.

"_In short there's simply not, a more congenial spot, for happ'ly-ever-aftering than here, in, Camelot!_"

The music continued, but Hatter had nothing more to sing. According to the script, Dinaden, who wasn't here, was to interrupt them, Hatter turned towards Katherine, thinking they were done.

However, they weren't done. Katherine straightened her back, still playing the music, as her face twisted up, trying to impersonate the missing actor.

"There she is!"

Emma hid behind Hatter, in fright, the moment between the characters broken. "Wart, please!"

Katherine looked at Hatter, still impersonating. "You're Majesty, forgive me. I did not see you for a moment." According to the script, Dinaden then was to bow and leave to stage. Emma looked at Hatter in amazement, or at least her character was. There was an awkward silence as he stepped away from her and began to read the lines. The music still playing.

"When I was a lad of eighteen," he began, as Emma followed. "our King died in London and left no one to succeed him; only a sword stuck through an anvil which stood on a stone. Written on it in letters of gold it said: 'Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil is rightwise King born of all England.' Many chaps tried to dislodge it, and none could. Finally a great tournament was proclaimed for New Year's Day, so that all the mightiest knights in England would be assembled at one time to have a go at the sword. I went to London as squire to my cousin, Sir Kay. The morning of the tournament, Kay discovered he'd left his sword at home and gave me a shilling to ride back to fetch it. On my way through London, I passed a square and saw a sword rising from a stone."

Hatter paused for a moment, and allowed himself to see a sword in a stone, as he felt that Arthur would take a moment to remember. Emma looked on, as if she was imagining it as well.

"Not thinking very quickly," Hatter continued, "I thought it was a war memorial. The square was deserted, so I decided to save myself a journey and borrow it. I tried to pull it out."

Hatter demonstrated this, with his free hand, as Emma watched. "I failed. I tried again. I failed again. Then, I closed my eyes and with all my force tried one last time."

He did so with the imaginary sword in the imaginary stone. "Lo, it moved in my hand. Then slowly, it slid out of the stone." Hatter pulled the imaginary sword out of the stone and held it up high, he honestly felt rather silly doing so, but at the same time, it felt right.

"I heard a great roar. When I opened my eyes, the square was filled with people shouting: 'Long live the King! Long live the King!' Then I looked at the sword and saw the blade gleaming with letters of gold."

Hatter turned towards Emma, his expression grim, as he felt Arthur would be. "That's how I became King. I never knew I would be. I never _wanted _to be. And since I am, I have been ill at ease in my crown."

He paused again, embarrassed and took a step toward Emma. "Until I dropped from the tree and my eye beheld you. Then suddenly, for the first time, I felt I was King. I was glad to be King. And most astonishing of all, I wanted to be the wisest, most heroic, most splendid King who ever sat on any throne."

There was a moment of silence, as the two stood and stared at each other. Hatter thought about the speech Arthur was making, and found that he thought very much the same, although instead of being a King, Hatter wanted to be all those things as a normal person, living in this strange world, with Alice. He knew that this was what had driven him to protect Alice back in Wonderland, and it seemed like a long time ago. He was overcome by emotion for a moment, embarrassed that the part could be making him feel this way.

"If you will come with me, Milady," Hatter said, his voice shaking a bit from the emotions he was feeling. "I will arrange for the carriage to return you to your father."

Emma was looking at him, partly shocked and partly touched, as the music began to start up again, Hatter hadn't realized until that point that it had even stopped. Emma looked like she was about to cry and her voice shook a bit, as she began to sing, slowly and tenderly.

_"I hear it never rains till after sundown. By eight the morning fog must disappear. In short there's simply not, a more congenial spot, for happ'ly-ever-aftering than here, in, Camelot._"

Emma held her hand out to him for a moment, as if she were unsure. Hatter only glanced at his script before he took her hand, and gently kissed it, he didn't know why he did so, it just felt like he should. There was silence for a moment, as the two looked up at each other. Hatter swallowed as they did so, overcome by emotion. Alice's face stood clearly in his mind.

The silence didn't last long, for suddenly, there was a round of applause. Hatter jumped. He hadn't realized it until that moment, but the choir room was suddenly filled with what seemed like the entire Camelot Cast. A few of them, mostly girls, had tears in their eyes. Out of the corner of his eye, Hatter could see Sally, standing in a corner of the room, tears streaming down her face and clapping the hardest of all.

"David." Emma, said, her voice still shaky. "That was incredible."

Hatter looked over towards Katherine, who to his surprise, also had tears in her eyes, and was smiling widely. She nodded to him. "I need to talk to you in my office." She said. "Now."

He nodded and followed her. Slightly numb from the experience. As Mordred, he had never felt that much, only sinister feelings. When he had been Arthur, he truly felt, he almost could say, he had been reliving the same feelings that had overcome him when he had first met Alice. It had been an incredible experience.

Katherine shut the door behind him once they got to her office. "That," she said with a sigh, "_really_ was incredible. I knew you could pull it off, but I had no idea that you were going to do that so well."

"What do you mean?" Hatter asked, as she sat down at her desk, gesturing him to sit in one of the seats beside it.

"That was _real _emotion." She began. "You actually _became_ King Arthur. Emma fed off that emotion and it became real for her too. That scene was real and it's what we need."

There was silence between for a moment as Katherine let her words sink into Hatter before she continued. "About a week ago, I got a phone call from Adam. He's got mono and his spleen is enlarged. The doctors have forbidden him from doing anything because they're afraid of it rupturing. I haven't said anything to anyone because Adam's asked me not to, just in case he gets to come back. He wants to do the show but he's still really sick. I told him not to overdo it."

Hatter looked up at Katherine, his heart pounding. He had no idea what this "mono" was, but it sounded serious, and by the look on Katherine's face it was.

"I think that he'll feel better, if I told him that you were his understudy." She held up a hand as he opened his mouth to speak. "Now let me finish. "Right after you read for Mordred, Adam told me that he saw something in you, a natural talent and I saw it too, and I think that you could make this play as real as Adam could if you played Arthur. Your ability to actually make yourself feel what your doing is really uncommon and we don't see if much in Community Theatre."

Hatter stared up at Katherine, not quite sure what to say. Was she serious? The way Katherine talked made it seem as if she were implying that he and Adam were equals. That was bloody insane. He had seen the guy during the audition; there was no way Hatter could be that good, right? Truth be told, that had felt real, and very good but all Hatter knew how to do was put up a front like he had done in Wonderland and that is what he had done with Mordred. To actually _become_ another person? It was impossible.

"It's your decision." Katherine told him. "Like it was last time, but it's a much bigger part and you would have to work even harder for the next month and a half than ever before. It's a lot to ask of you. I don't think we're going to run that execution scene today. Why don't you go home and talk to your fiancée about it? But please, _please_ don't dismiss the idea right away. We really need an Arthur and I think you're the guy for the job."

**A/N:**

**Will he do it? Will he become the new King Arthur? You'll find out soon! **

**The song "Camelot" is my all time favorite song personally. You can find it on YouTube if you are intrested in listening to it. **

**Don't forget to review! It makes me feel like it's Christmastime all over again! **


	10. The Interview

**A/N:**

**Thank you so much for the reviews!**

**I struggled with this chapter for a bit, not because of time reasons or writers block mind you, but because I had no idea if Hatter should take the part of Arthur or stay as Mordred—Hatter's brilliance took over last chapter and did better as Arthur than I originally planned. After much thought and deliberating, I decided to let Hatter decide for himself. Let us see what he decides. **

Hatter stared at the clock, unable to sleep, Katherine's words still echoing in his mind. Hatter wasn't going to fall asleep and he knew it. Too many thoughts were swimming in his head. Had he really been that believable? That it became real? Hatter doubted it, or at least he doubted that he could put on a performance equivalent to Adam's. How could he? The guy had studied it at a school for four years, probably longer. The way Adam had truly become King Arthur had been incredible. What had he done to gain the skills that were apparently so equivalent to his? There was no way Hatter could put on a comparable performance. Or at least that was what he was telling himself. On the other hand that moment had been so incredibly real to him. So many thoughts and memories had given him emotions that he had never felt as Mordred. The part had truly been real…or at least for him. Hatter just wasn't sure anymore. Carefully, ever so carefully as to not wake the sleeping Alice beside him, he slipped out of bed. He needed a cup of tea to help him think.

Even though Alice was still asleep and back in the bedroom, Hatter shifted though the kitchen as quietly as he could. He doubted that she would wake up but he wanted to be careful. It wasn't time to explain the situation to her yet. Or moreover, he wasn't ready. One out of two things would happen, Alice would either support him becoming Arthur or discourage it and he wasn't exactly sure how _he _felt about the part.

Did he want it? Hatter wasn't sure. At least not yet. He sighed as he put the kettle on and looked out the window and watched as cars passed by on the still semi busy New York Street.

Hatter had rather enjoyed doing it, even if he didn't want to admit it. Arthur seemed to come naturally to him and the song he had sung was rather easy, like Katherine had said it would be. However, Mordred also was a good fit for him. He was more prepared for Mordred too. The lines were memorized and he had the costumes for that character. He and Alice had sacrificed too much just to throw it all away and work on another character that would take more time and more energy.

That was another negative thing about accepting the part of Arthur. No time with Alice. It was already stretched enough. They only had a month and a half to go until they were to perform, and all of his free time would be spent learning new lines and new songs. Arthur had what seemed like to Hatter a million songs. Who's to say that he would be able to learn them? He wanted time with Alice. It seemed as if his decision was made.

But that incredible feeling! Hatter just couldn't get it out of his head. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought.

XXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, Hatter found himself leaving the teashop early, very early to talk to Katherine. Alice had willingly shown up early for him to do so. Hatter still had yet to tell her anything, but the look on his face seemed to speak very clearly to her and she had offered to come in the moment he brought it up. He felt bad about not saying anything to her. He wanted to, but he was afraid. Afraid that if he told her about it, she would try to encourage him to do the opposite of what he had decided.

Yes, Hatter had come to the decision late into the night-and it hadn't been easy. But he had been working too hard as Mordred to switch characters now. He and Alice had sacrificed too much and he wasn't going to give up any more of his time. His teashop needed him, as well as his customers. He and Alice hadn't seen Carol in ages and Hatter was positive that something needed to be done about the décor in the living room. The part of Arthur would have been an honor to play but there wasn't enough time for Hatter and do it well. In order for that to happen, he would have to have had to be at practices even longer to make up for the lost time. Then he'd never be at the teashop, never add a little color to the drab living room…never get any time with Alice.

This is what Hatter planned to tell Katherine when he arrived early. He had done what she asked. He thought about it. Really thought about it. This was the best decision. Wasn't it? If so, why was he suppressing that niggling feeling in the back of his head? No. Hatter shook his head quickly, as he walked up to the school. No thinking like that now. He had a decision and he was going to tell Katherine.

The school was buzzing when he stepped though. The last time he arrived early, there hadn't been a peep in the halls. Now, they were crowded with teenagers, all chatting with their friends, being loud and obnoxious. This didn't surprise Hatter in the least bit. He was much earlier than he had been before so of course the students would be more up and about. He didn't know much about Oyster Schools, only what Alice had told him. Looking at the clock, Hatter noticed that it was probably lunch period, or whatever Alice had called it once. He walked briskly to the choir room, a place he knew very well within the building. Hatter hoped that Katherine wasn't teaching a class, or eating her lunch somewhere else in the school. He really needed to talk to her.

He got to the choir room within minutes and opened the door quickly. To his relief, Katherine was there. She was sitting in her office and Hatter could see her though the window. She appeared to be talking to someone. Sitting in the exact same chair Hatter had sat in the previous day, was a man, wearing a business suit and writing down on a pad of paper. Unsure as to what it was about, Hatter hesitantly stepped into the room.

Katherine seemed tired, Hatter observed. Her mousy brown hair stood out in places, as if she had been pulling her hair in frustration. Her normally expressive eyes seemed dense and sunken in and seemed much larger due to her glasses, which made them look worse. Hatter cautiously approached her office, listening intently, but not wanting to disturb.

"Now, Ms Matthews," The man said, looking at the piece of paper as he finished scribbling on it. "How is production so far?" He asked.

"Production is going well actually." Katherine said leaning back against her seat. "Well, as good as we can do with all of the obstacles we've been running into lately. But we're doing what we can with what we've got right now."

Hatter arched his eyebrow at Katherine's answer. Obstacles? Well, yeah the fact that they couldn't use the theater was obviously and obstacle and the fact that they didn't have an Arthur. Was this causing Katherine stress? By the look of her it was.

"Despite this," the man continued. "how is the cast handling all of these—as you've put it 'obstacles' and how do they work together to overcome them? If they do that is."

"I love my cast. They've taken everything that's happened in stride and have done the best that they can. We have a number of new people, such as David Hatter, who have never been involved in the theater until now and have done everything asked of them with the best of their ability—which they have a lot of."

Hatter felt a pang in his chest. Katherine was talking about him and she was talking of him highly. What was he going to do? Go in there and let her down. Hatter could picture the look on Katherine's face when told her that he wanted to stay as Mordred. He could just picture the look in her eyes when he would tell her that he couldn't do it, because of Alice. Hatter paused for a moment, as he thought about it. Truth be told, he had felt some feelings that he never thought he could feel in Wonderland, until Alice came along. In a way, Alice had been with him when he read for Arthur. That had to account for something right? Maybe he should have thought about it a little more.

He had been so deep in thought, that he hadn't realized that both the man and Katherine had noticed his presence. They motioned him in, when Katherine explained to the man that he was a member of the Camelot Cast.

"Practice isn't until the end of the day." Katherine told him, confused as Hatter walked into the office.

"I know." Hatter said, "I needed to talk to you. About what we discussed yesterday."

Katherine nodded at him, her mouth tightening as the man stood up and shook Hatter's hand, almost as if Katherine wasn't beside him at all. "Carl T. Leglen." He told Hatter, "Reporter for the local newspaper in the Entertainment section. I'm doing an article about your production, sort of like an early edition you might say. A sneak peek into the happenings of the play. Mind if I interview you?"

So this man was a reporter! It should have been obvious to him. Hatter shrugged. The truth was he would very much rather _not_ be interviewed, but if it would get him out of the office so he could talk to Katherine alone, he would.

"First off." The reporter said, "State your name and the character you are in the production."

"Well," Hatter began, but stopped himself. Was his decision the right one? Katherine looked like a wreak, all of this stress and things going wrong seemed to be affecting her. What kind of person would he be if he added onto that stress by telling her that she would have to look for a different Arthur? What about the rest of the cast? If a new Arthur couldn't be found in time, what would happen? Maybe, just maybe they really needed him. Alice would understand once he told her and explained the situation in a calm and rational manner. He looked over at Katherine. She looked at him wide eyed, her expression grim, fearful for his answer. Hatter sighed. He wasn't sure if it would end well, but he knew what had to be done. He knew what he had to do.

"My name is David Hatter, and I'm King Arthur."

**A/N:**

**So, as you can plainly see...Hatter's adventure as Mordred draws to a close, and is reborn in the form of Arthur! This should be interesting!**

**I have to give shout out to the lovely TheChocolateHatter, who made her first video on YouTube inspired by **_**this**_** story! Instead of Camelot however, she uses a song from the musical Beauty and the Beast, which is just as amazing! I can't stop watching it! You can find a link to it on my profile.**

**So, whatcha thinkin? Do you think it was a good idea for Hatter to take the role of Arthur? Think he should have stayed Mordred? I want to hear what you have to say! Press the little review button and tell me your thoughts! **


	11. Helmets and Scripts

**A/N:**

**Thank you so, so, SO much for the reviews! **

**I'm very excited about this. Now that Hatter is Arthur it means that I get to work with more of the play. Which means it will be longer than originally planned! A combination of your reviews, and my overall excitement got this chapter to you **_**so**_** quickly…**

**Let's see how Hatter is doing shall we?**

"-so that's why Adam won't be continuing on as King Arthur." Katherine told the cast that evening. She had called everyone in the Camelot Cast for that evenings practice. "However, I've found the perfect understudy for him. Our very own David Hatter!"

Hatter smiled and gave a little nod as the choir room burst into applause. He had a few hours to grasp the fact that he; Hatter, had chosen to take the part of King Arthur. He hadn't planned to and for sure hadn't expected to, but now he was quite excited about it.

Earlier that day, when he had come in to tell Katherine that he wanted to stay as Mordred-the exact opposite of what had actually happened seemed like such a long time ago. Katherine's reaction had been priceless.

The interview had been over fairly quickly; the reporter had asked some generic questions, mainly about production and if Hatter enjoyed being involved. Hatter had answered truthfully to all of his questions. Not really going into detail in hopes to not take up so much time. During the interview, Katherine had remained calm and collected. They had been done in minutes.

Almost immediately, once the reporter had left the choir room Katherine had flung herself at Hatter, tears in her eyes, a broad smile and a giant hug.

Hatter had been taken aback for a moment by Katherine's sudden burst of affection. He must have made some sort of noise in surprise, for Katherine stepped back quickly, her ears red.

"Sorry." She had mumbled still smiling at him and her entire body trembling in excitement. "That was unprofessional. But you'll really take Arthur?"

Hatter had shrugged and smiled at her, amused by her sudden change of behavior. "Well you need me, yeah?"

She had continued smiling, if not more broadly, her sunken eyes replaced with the usual bright ones. They seemed less huge that way. "Thank you David. I know your sacrificing a lot to this production."

Once that had been over, the first thing Hatter had done was rush back to the teashop to tell Alice. However, he had been rather distracted along the way and had bought himself a new black Trilby hat in celebration and made it just in time for to make it to her next class and the dojo and couldn't talk. That seemed like so long ago to Hatter, even though it had only been a few hours. It seemed like a lifetime ago. He still had to tell Alice that he had chosen the part too. That was going to be an interesting experience. However, Hatter didn't have much time to dwell on it, for Katherine stood before the cast of Camelot, still talking.

"Since we have everyone here, let's run a scene with everyone in it! We're going to run the scene right before Lusty Month of May and then we'll run the song! How's that sound to everyone?"

Hatter looked around as the cast murmured in agreement, and excitement. However, no one stood up, expect for Kris, who looked at Hatter motioning him to follow.

"This scene is where Lancelot and Arthur first meet." Katherine explained to Hatter as he approached. "Lancelot has just finished singing about how wonderful and Godly he is and basically why he's perfect in every way. Before the song, Lancelot has mistaken you for a knight and attacked you. Originally, Lancelot's squire Dap is supposed to carry you on stage unconscious. But Kris told me that you and he found the swords in the costume room and practiced with them. I want to see if you can create the swordfight between Lancelot and Arthur. Just for fun. Once that's over, I'll give you Arthur's script so you can follow along."

Hatter nodded as one of the knights, who Hatter assumed was Dap, came out from Katherine's office, with the swords they found in the costume room all those days ago. He also carried a helmet for the both of them. This part was going to be fun.

The entire choir room was silent. No one made a sound as Hatter and Kris took their swords from the knight. Smiling to himself, Hatter whipped his new Trilby hat off of his head and threw it to Katherine. It flew through the air quickly but with an elegant spin, she caught it just in time with a surprised look on her face. Hatter's smile grew larger as some of the chorus girls giggled. He was in a rather good mood today; why not mess around a little?

The helmet was going to have to take some time to get used to, it was heavier than he thought it would be for a costume helmet and he wished the slits for his eyes were just a bit bigger. Hatter wasn't very worried. He had "fought" Kris back in the costume room and his reflexes would help. The only thing he had to remember was to lose on purpose. It was going to be very hard to fight Kris when he could barely see where he was.

Suddenly, Hatter felt Kris's sword brush past him. His quick reflexes had kicked in just in time. Quick as a flash, Hatter lifted his sword to block Kris's next blow. He only had a few moments to register what was going on for Kris had suddenly spun around him, to get at another angle. Hatter did the same as the two men lunged at each other once again block each other's swords with their own.

Although they were not in a life or death situation, Hatter could feel his heartbeat increase, as this time he tried to spin around as Kris had done but found himself face to face on the choir room floor. If it hadn't been for the damn helmet, he would have seen Kris's foot.

Hatter's pride wasn't hurt, much, as he lay there on the choir room floor. The ringing in his ears quieted down after a moment or two as the knight, who was playing the role of Dap, leaned down and shook Hatter gently.

"I cannot bring him to, Lancelot." He said to Kris. "You gave him a shattering blow. The echo broke several branches in the trees."

Hatter, although he could not see him with the helmet on, heard Kris scoff. "There's water in ze flask. Toss it in 'is face. And 'urry." Hatter could see Dap pretend to throw water in his face as Kris's voice continued.

"Oh, King Arthur, what caliber of man you must be! To have conceived of the Table! To have created a new order of life. I worship you before knowing you. No harm must befall you. Beware, enemies of Arthur! Do you hear me? Beware! From 'zis moment on, you answer to me!"

Hatter found this very amusing. He wondered what Lancelot would do once he found out that he had been fighting the apparently very wonderful King Arthur. It only took Hatter a second to realize that Dap was now pulling him upright. Taking off the wretched helmet, he took the open script from him. Katherine must have handed to him or something. Hatter realized that this script was much, much bigger than his Mordred one but the book was open to the part they were on. Hatter stood up quickly.

"What a blow!" he read, "What a blow! Magnificent. Simply magnificent!"

Kris, was standing to his left in front of him. However, Lancelot had yet to register that the knight, was King Arthur for he glared at Hatter.

"Now that you have recovered." Kris said. "Sir, I bid you good day. And ze next time you raise a spear to me, remember you challenge ze right arm of King Arthur."

"I _am _King Arthur."

Almost at once, the overconfident and smug expression on Kris's face, turned to horror as Dap, fell to his knees. "The King?"

Hatter smirked. "Almost the late King."

"I…I struck _you_?" Kris said, his body suddenly shaking, totally in character. "Oh my God!"

To Hatter's surprise, he fell to his knees and crawled to Hatter's feet. Tears were in his eyes and his voice trembled. Hatter's eyebrows arched and stepped back just a little as Kris continued to speak.

"Your Majesty, I am Lancelot du Lac. I 'eard of your new Order in France and came to join. Oh, I beg Your Majesty to forgive me! Not because I deserve it, but because by forgiving me, I'll suffer more."

It was really quite odd to have someone kneeling at his feet. Actually, it made him feel rather uncomfortable. Just the thought of anyone kneeling at his feet was an odd thing to think about. Never had he imagined someone kneeling at his feet back in Wonderland, even here in Alice's world. "Really, dear chap, I don't want you to suffer at all. I want to congratulate you. Please rise. And you too, Squire."

Neither of them moved.

"I can't, Your Majesty." Kris said, still shaking, almost sobbing. "I am too ashamed to lift my head."

"Then I command you." Hatter said quickly with a stiff nod. Kris did as he was told, followed by Dap, but Kris refused to lift his head and make eye contact with Hatter. "I've never felt a bash in the chest like it." Hatter read. "It was spectacular. Where did you learn to do it?"

"My skill comes from training, Your Majesty. My strength from purity."

Hatter smiled, mostly to himself at this statement. Purity huh? "Oh." He read. "A unique recipe, I must say."

"He's a unique man, Your Majesty." Dap said, rushing forward. Hatter felt himself inch away just bit in surprise. "At the age of fourteen he could defeat any jouster in France. His father, King Ban, made me his squire when he was only…"

Hatter held up his free hand, silencing Dap, as it said in the script. "King Ban? Of Benwick?" He paused for a moment, and stared at Kris intensely. Hatter wasn't sure exactly why, but it seemed to fit. "What did you say your name was?"

"Lancelot du Lac, Your Majesty."

"Lancelot?" Hatter paused for a minute, allowing it to sink it. Then suddenly, with a flourish he took a step towards Kris excitedly. "Lancelot! My word, _you're _Lancelot? Of course! I was told you were coming!"

"You were told, Your Majesty?"

"By Merlyn," Hatter answered. "our court magician. He said to me one day: 'Arthur, keep eye out for Lancelot du Lac from the castle of Joyous Gard. He will come to the Court of Camelot, and he will be…' Oh what was it?"

Hatter paused, trailing off in thought. From what he already knew about him, Arthur seemed to be the kind of bloke who thought a lot. After a moment, Kris stepped forward.

"Your ally, if you'll take me? Your friend who asks not of friendship? Your defender, when you need one? Whose 'eart iz already filled wiz you? Whose body is your sword to brandish? Did he prophesy that, Your Majesty?" Kris asked, bowing extremely low again. "For zat is all that I am."

Hatter could feel both of his eyebrows arch in surprise. This side of Lancelot really surprised Hatter. He had known that the character was devoted to the king, but he had no idea that he was _this _devoted. "Really, my dear fellow," he said forcing Kris to stand upright again. "it's almost more than one could hope for, more than one should ask."

"Then you'll accept me?"

"Without hesitation."

Immediately, Kris was kneeling again. However, this time, Hatter chose to ignore it. Heading the opposite direction he read motioning for Kris to follow, "Come. We must arrange for your knighthood immediately."

"No!" Kris yelled rising from his kneeling position. Hatter stopped and turned on the spot. Another memory flashed through his head, of Alice saying no, many times. Why was it that no one seemed to want to listen to him? Even when he was playing a part in a play.

"Not immediately." Kris said, taking a step towards Hatter. "Not till I 'ave proven myself. All you know of me now iz words. Invest me because of deeds, Sire. Give me an order."

"Now?"

"Yes! Now! 'Ziz moment! Send me on a mission! Let me perform for you. Is there some wrong I can right? Some enemy I can battle? Some peril I can undertake?"

"Well," Hatter said taking a step toward Kris, who look very eager. "actually, there's not much going on today. This is the first of May, and the Queen and some of the Court have gone a-Maying. I was on my way to surprise her with you surprised me."

Hatter did a double take on the script. _A-Maying_? What was that? His confusion must have shown though for he heard a couple of the girls snicker. However, he refused to look up until he heard Kris speak.

"Gone a-Maying, Your Majesty?"

"Why yes. It's a sort of picnic." Hatter explained, informing both himself and Lancelot. "You eat grapes and chase girls around trees…"

It all sounded rather pointless actually. Lancelot must have felt the same, for he said. "A _picnic, _Your Majesty?"

Hatter nodded and continued. "Yes. It's a custom we have here. England, you know. It's the time for flower gathering."

"Knights _gathering flowers_, Your Majesty?"

"Someone has to do it." Hatter answered, with a shrug of his shoulders. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that all of the chorus members had gotten up and headed to the sides of the choir room and he could see Katherine get up and throw his hat onto the risers where the chorus had just been before sitting back down at the piano. Sure enough, when he turned the page, they were almost finished with the scene.

"But with so much to be done?" Kris asked, it seemed that he had not acknowledged the sudden change about them. If he had, he had ignored it completely.

"Precisely!" Hatter said, smiling. "Because there is so much to be done."

"Of course, Sire."

"Besides," Hatter read with a shrug, he felt that Lancelot would have deserved an explanation after something as strange as a-maying was, so he took the time to as he thought Arthur would, to think of his words carefully, "it's civilized Civilization should have a few gentle hobbies. And I want you to meet the Queen."

"I should be honored." Kris bowed again, but this time straightened up quickly turning to Dap. "Dap, take 'ze horses to the castle, dress zem and prepare zem for battle!"

Hatter blinked. Hadn't Lancelot been listening to him at all? "For battle? But there's no one to fight today."

"One never knows, Your Majesty. Enemies seldom take holidays."

"I suppose not. You know Merlyn…" According to the script, he was to stop and pause in thought. Hatter stood facing the wall, staring at nothing.

"What is it Sire?" Kris asked quickly "'ave I offended you? Did I say something that displeased you?"

Hatter shook his head quickly. "No, no Lancelot. I suddenly remembered what Merlyn said of you. How strange. How wondrous. He said you would be the greatest knight ever to sit at my table."

He took a step forward, his brow furrowed. "But that was long before I had thought of a table. So, he knew it would exist! I thought he meant a dining table. But he meant this," Hatter turned toward Kris and began to gesture in front of him, a make believe table in front of them. "The Round Table! And I have stumbled upon my future! I have done the right thing."

"Did you ever doubt it, Your Majesty?"

"Of course. Only fools never doubt." He turned to Kris, a smile on his face. He held out his hand, he wasn't sure why he was doing so but like everything else, it just felt right. "Welcome Lancelot!" Hatter said as Kris took his hand. "Welcome to the table!"

Suddenly, music poured from the piano and the chorus and Emma ran to the front of the room. Kris and Hatter barely had time to get out of the way and onto the risers.

Hatter flipped his hat back on as the chorus began to dance to the music coming from the piano. That hadn't gone as well as he thought it would. It had run smoothly, and he'd done is best but hadn't seemed as real to him as the last time he had played Arthur. Perhaps it was because Hatter couldn't find anything that he could relate to in this scene? Last time he had been Arthur he had his memories of he and Alice. Hatter didn't really have many memories of friends to fall back on for this scene, he had had March of course but memories of him always put a nasty taste in his mouth.

He didn't have long to beat himself up about it however, for Katherine was motioning him over with a nod of her head. The chorus had still to sing; they were dancing in a small little line as he maneuvered himself over towards Katherine.

"I think that right now might be a good time to work on those lines." She whispered to him as she continued to play the piano, the chorus still dancing. "Go out into the hallway and work on some of your harder lines. Some one will come get you when we need you again."

Hatter nodded. It was true. He did have a lot of lines now and not a lot of time to learn them. Every minute would help. Hatter slipped out of the choir room just as Emma opened her mouth to sing. It was a shame; he wanted to hear the song. But Hatter wasn't entirely concerned, as he settled down onto the floor and opened his script to the first act, there would be more chances to hear whatever song they were singing.

What Hatter had to be more concerned about now, was the quantity of lines that he had to memorize. He paused for a moment, in thought. His new script looked exactly like his old one for the most part, same dark red color and the words 'Camelot' on it. At a quick glance, you would think no change had taken place at all.

But actually, they were very different from each other. Instead of the name 'Mordred' itched on it in gold letters, it read 'King Arthur' and was by far, much bigger. So much bigger in fact, that by just looking at it instantly made Hatter think about all the lines he was going to have to memorize. He knew Arthur had a lot more lines than Mordred and plenty more songs…what if he couldn't memorize them all in time? Perhaps, once he told her, he could get Alice's help to memorize all the lines. Although, after the last time she had helped him, did he really want to put up with it? Did they have the time to memorize the lines exactly word for word as Alice would most certainly make him do? Whatever he did, Hatter would have to do it soon. There was no denying that fact.

**A/N:**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**I was going to put the song Lusty Month of May in this chapter, but for some reason I felt that it was going to be too much in this chapter so I cut it. However, it is still a wonderful song and if you want to listen to it you can find it on YouTube.**

**Liked it? Loved it? Thought it was "average?" Thought it was "terrible?" Let me know your thoughts! **

**Oh, and have a happy Valentines Day everyone! I have a little somthing, somthing planned for Valentines Day and I hope I will be able to get it up but in case I don't I wanted to say it now!**


	12. Hammers, Dice and Chocolates

**A/N:**

**Originally this was going to be a chapter for Valentines Day but life and Valentines Day in itself got in the way. So it's a shame, but at least you get this chapter now right? A week late is better than never updating at all. **

It had only been three days, but Hatter had actually managed to memorize all of Act One in reasonable time. He had studied constantly, barely stopping to eat or sleep. It was still a little shaky near the end but he had done his best, and to be honest he was quite proud of his accomplishment. Things were moving faster than a speeded up clock.

Hatter had been called by Katherine the previous night. Excitedly, she had told him that they finally had access to the theater. As a result, Katherine had decided to call an emergency set building day. Since it was Saturday she had also decided to do it before practice for a few hours, get some pizza or something for lunch and then continue practice as usual. Hatter understood why, but it didn't mean that he had been excited about asking Alice to stay at the teashop all day when she was already cross with him.

"Alice," Hatter called that morning, putting on his coat. "I'm off."

He was answered by a grunt from the woman who had her back to him. A cup of tea in her hands.

When Alice had learned of his decision to play Arthur, her reaction had not been what he had expected. She wasn't happy for him and she wasn't disappointed with him. Truth be told she had been furious with him. The fact that he had made the decision on an impulse, without consulting her or asking her how it would affect her was, in her words "completely selfish of him." Since then, she had not spoken to him, only giving him a few curt grunts or words such as now.

Hatter sighed as he flipped his hat on his head. He didn't blame her for being angry with him. Alice didn't like being kept in the dark about anything. However, three days was a bit much. How long was she going to brood over it?

"Alice," Hatter whispered. "I'll be back later tonight, yeah?"

Alice didn't answer him, her normally soft blue eyes pricing with anger as she started into space. Hatter could feel his annoyance growing slightly.

"Come on," Hatter whispered to her, louder. "enough of this. Why've you gotten so angry?"

"You should know."

"But I don't. Alice. Seriously. I didn't think it was going to be such a big deal."

"You could have asked me if I could give up more time before taking the part!" Alice suddenly yelled, jumping up from the couch. She turned to him with her hands at her hips. Hatter took a breath and stared at her very defensive form. A form he had seen one too many times. Why was it they had to fight so much? He had to make her see reason.

"I understand where you are coming from love, but think about this for a second." He told her as he took a step forward. "You wanted me to be involved in the first place."

"I know I did!" Alice snapped. "I just thought that you would be a little more appreciative of what I've had to do so you could take that part. I go to the dojo to teach in the mornings then I'm in your shop all afternoon working your shift and then I have to go _back _to the dojo for more classes! I just wish you could have just considered that before you decided to take a larger part that is going to require you to be gone longer."

"I knew it was going to take up more of me time, but they needed someone to play Arthur. I was told I fit the bill and I thought you would be excited by the fact that I got involved on my own. The fact that you were right that I am good at it and I like it."

"Maybe you like it a little too much." Alice snapped again, her eyes slits. He sighed as she took a long deep breath. Staring at him. Suddenly she turned quickly and stomped out of the room, slamming the bedroom door behind her.

Hatter could feel his jaw clench and his sledgehammer fist tingle. He let out a slow deep breath trying to calm himself down. She never listened to him and she was always contradicting herself. Sure it really hadn't been fair of him to not talk to her but it had been Alice who had wanted him to get a hobby to relieve his so called stress. Now she was angry with him for continuing to do so. His first instinct was to follow her whether to console her or start another argument he didn't know but Hatter was going to be late. Fixing the hat on his head again he grabbed his keys and walked out of the flat. He could talk to Alice again later, once she calmed down.

XXXXXXXXXX

It felt really strange to be back in the theater, instead of Katherine's choir classroom, but Hatter didn't have a lot of time to really compare for he had been put straight to work. He was glad that he'd just thrown on a t-shirt and jeans, for it was a messy job. Hatter painted archways to make them look like stone. He painted the castle door, he even got to help bring in the Round Table, his throne and other numerous and rather large pieces of furniture from Katherine's truck. By the time the pizza arrived, Hatter was covered in sweat and paint and was happy for a break.

If you could call it that. Almost immediately Katherine told them to stop and it was time for a break, chorus girls surrounded Hatter. It was specifically the high school girls who throughout the day asked him to take a picture or two or to just ask him random questions. Hatter hadn't minded much, all the distractions kept his mind off of Alice and their argument.

"While everyone gets a break and enjoys their pizza," Katherine said as everything began to settle down. "Let me explain how the rest of today is going to go."

The pizza tasted good; as Hatter took a giant bite listening. But it made him slightly annoyed and sad. Pizza had been the first thing he and Alice had shared when he had shown up on her doorstep. She flashed through his mind as he took another bite. For now, he couldn't dwell on it. He had to put it aside and concentrate on the now.

However, Hatter couldn't get it out of his mind. He hadn't been wrong to take the part of Arthur. Right? At the time it hadn't seemed like a big deal but Alice's words stuck in his mind. She was acting crazy. Hadn't she wanted him to be in the play? Get a hobby? When he finally started to enjoy it and try to make his own choices, what did she do? Get angry at him. Why were Oyster woman so complicated?

"We'll clean up a bit." Katherine continued, pulling Hatter from his thoughts. "And while we freshen up, the orchestra will be coming in to work with us today. I had to pull a few strings but we should have been working with them weeks ago."

Before Hatter would have been worried. For some reason Katherine's statement didn't bug him, which was odd. Well, perhaps it did bug him some, frighten him even. Whenever he had to sing a new song, it was going to be stressful. However, he had all of Arthur's songs down to a T. Watching them on the internet and such. But still.

"We will also need Biographies in for the Programs really soon. Tell the audience about yourself. General stuff mostly. Write your name, where you grew up and where you went to school and if there is anyone who you'd like to thank. Stuff like that."

That got his attention. A biography? That would be tough to do. What could he say that didn't sound completely mad to Oysters? 'My name is David Hatter, I am twenty-four years old and I grew up in the ghettos of Wonderland City?' Yeah not going to happen. It was going to be tough to figure out what to say.

Well, he knew what he would say about where he grew up of course. It was the place that many knowledgeable people assumed he was from—due to his accent. When Hatter had first arrived in this strange new world, someone from Carol's flat had approached him one day and asked if he was from Yorkshire, England. Hatter had been going by that ever since.

The rest of the biography would be hard to do. Hatter thought long and hard as they cleaned up the small mess they made about what he could possibly put into it. However, by the time the orchestra had arrived he had not come up with a single thing.

He followed Kris and Daniel up the theatre steps to get in position while the orchestra began to set up. They had gotten a lot of work done and the sets were nearly complete. Two walls—or flats according to Katherine—were completely finished and looked almost like the real stonewalls they were supposed to be. They had almost finished the flat that was going to be and archway leading to the rest of the castle, all it needed was to be painted. Arthur's new golden throne sat to the left of the stage on a pedestal. A smaller version, Guenevere's throne sat beside it. Between the thrones a cushion sat where King Arthur's sword Excalibur would soon lay. On the other side of the stage sat the Round Table all large, old and made of oak. Although it wasn't done, it was quite a magnificent set up. Hatter couldn't wait to see when it was finished.

Kris went to sit on the corner of a pedestal, a scroll now in his hands, while Hatter and Daniel headed the opposite direction to the Round Table. As Hatter approached it, he noticed a strange game board sat on the edge of the table. Both men nodded to each other as they sat down at the table in front of the board.

They were supposedly playing some game called "backgammon" and it looked incredibly hard. Hatter had no idea how to play it, let alone win. Luckily, Katherine had told him he didn't have to play, just pretend to. Just roll the dice, look down, move something on the board, repeat.

"I'm afraid I got you Pelly." Hatter said looking at the board, although it truly meant nothing to him, he smiled mischievously.

"Not yet." Daniel told him, staring at the game with intent. "Yours Hopefully hasn't given up." His brow was furrowed intensely as he rolled some dice onto the bored, the stared at it for a moment. Hatter wondered to himself if he should stare at it brow furrowed as well, but found himself break into a smile as Daniel slumped his shoulders in defeat. "Oh fishcakes!"

"If you lose," Hatter said, collecting the dice and rolling them. "you'll owe me Italy, Spain and Egypt."

He looked up at Daniel, who blinked rather idiotically. "When did I lose Spain?"

"Last night."

Hatter smiled once again, almost laughing to himself as Daniel looked at the game board, supposedly looking for whatever Spain was on it. "So I did." He said after a moment. "Oh bosh, who wants it anyway? Filthy place Spain. All that heel-clicking nonsense! Stepping on bugs, that's what they're doing, what?"

"Come along Pelly. Don't try to rattle me with amusement." Hatter said. "It's your move. Get on with it."

Hatter watched as Daniel took a moment to step back to survey the board. He took the moment carefully, as if he were really trying to decide. The right move came to him as his face lit up. He smiled at Hatter as he reached forward to make his next move. However, before he could, both of them were startled by a great yell.

"Bravo Arthur!" Kris screamed jumping up from his seat as Hatter turned to look at him, in actual surprise. He had forgotten he was there. "I agree completely! Let armor fight armor! Let knights fight fairly! It's not chivalry when only peasants get killed! Bravo!"

"It's certainly more civilized." Hatter said, turning back to Daniel and the supposed game, his eyebrow arched impishly and dimples flashing. "Well, Pelly. I'm waiting."

He watched with amusement as Daniel once again took a moment to step back to survey the board. The right move came to him again as his face lit up like before. Reaching forward, Daniel chuckled to himself as suddenly…

" C'est magnifique, Arthur!" Kris yelled again, rushing forward to Hatter, clamping him on the back. "When our knights go abroad through ze land, our enemies will know what zey will 'ave to face. No more immunity. Death or reformation. C'est merveilleux."

"But read on!" Hatter said as he half turned to Kris, and then back to Daniel. "Come on, Pelly. Either play or give up."

Daniel took a moment to stare at Kris, before throwing the dice quickly onto the board. "There!"

Hatter took the dice and threw it. Both of them leaned forward to look at the result. His smile widening into a broad grin, Hatter picked up two pieces on the board, he remembered something along those lines being mentioned in the script as he had practiced memorizing.

"Egypt's mine."

"Oh, bulrushes! How can a chap make the right move with the town crier blasting away in his ear?" Daniel said angrily as he stood up, staring at Kris. "I know this is admirable work you're doing, but couldn't you do it in your own room? What? Your own _chambre de coucher_?"

"I'm terribly sorry, Pellinore." Kris said. "I didn't mean to throw you off your game."

Hatter looked up as Daniel took a step towards Kris, as if he couldn't believe what he saw. "Really, my dear chap! Don't you ever do anything but run around the Round Table? Have you no hobbies? Don't you ever go fishing? Collect things? Catch butterflies? Aren't you interested in astronomy, or making models of things?"

"No, Pellinore, I'm not."

Daniel scoffed and turned towards Hatter, who shut the board game. " Well, Arthur, if this is the sort of knight you intend to breed, you'll bore History to death. And furthermore, that idea of knights fighting knights is perfectly frightful. God's feet! What's the sense of being a knight if you can get killed like everyone else? I guarantee you, Arthur, the chaps downstairs won't cotton to this at all."

Hatter took a moment, what would Arthur do? Pellinore was questioning his life's work. Hatter himself would probably ignore it. However, at the present moment, he was not Hatter. He was Arthur.

"All new ideas are resisted, Pelly." Hatter said with a sigh as he rose from his chair. "But they'll get used to it in time."

"But he never gets off it!" Daniel exclaimed pointing to Kris. "Why can't he come home in the evening, hang up his spear and shield and frolic about a bit the way other chap do?"

" Be patient, Pelly. He will."

"No, Arthur. I won't. Pellinore is quite right. I am irritating. I always will be. " Kris suddenly said, rising again from his chair. "All fanatics are bores, Pellinore, and I'm a fanatic. Even when I was a child I irritated ze other children. I wanted to play their games, but I knew I could not. Even then I was filled with a sense of divine purpose. I'm not saying I enjoy it. All my life I've locked ze world out. And, you know, when you lock ze world out, you're locked in."

There was a moment of silence, as Kris and Daniel stared at each other. Hatter shifted his weight uncomfortably. These two were his characters closest friends. He felt that Arthur would be uncomfortable with the situation.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Daniel said after a moment.

"Never mind, Pelly. I do." Hatter said quickly, stepping in between them. He felt that Arthur would want to change the subject and felt that he would want to physically get in between them. Turning to Kris, he said "Are you truly satisfied with the proclamation, Lance? Is there anything you would like to add?"

"Not at all, Arthur. It's perfect. Of course, there are one or two changes I'd like you to consider."

"Naturally."

Kris opened his mouth to speak as a chorus member came onto the stage. He held a single rose with a note on it. Hatter knew that this was "the Page" so he took the rose from him, after the chorus member bowed.

Hatter took a moment to look at the rose and read the note. "Jenny!" Hatter called out to the opposite end of the stage. "Jenny, it's for you!" Why Queen Guenevere's nickname was _Jenny_ confused Hatter. Wouldn't a more suitable nickname be Gwen or something of the like? Oysters would always confuse him.

He turned again to Kris, who's entire demeanor changed. The man looked nervous and was rolling up the scroll in haste. Hatter took a step towards him, indicating the scroll with his hand. "Where, Lance?"

"It's not pressing, Arthur. We can do it tomorrow."

"No!" Hatter said, taking another step towards him. "I want to hear it now!"

He watched as Kris shook his head quickly. "I'd rather not Arthur." Kris stood up facing him and did a slight bow. "If you'll excuse me."

Emma however, stopped his exit. She stood rather menacingly with her hands on her hips staring up at Kris with apparent dislike. With a quick head nod she said haughtily, "Good evening, Milord."

"Good evening, Your Majesty."

Hatter watched as Emma sneered at him. Alice's face of the morning flashed in his mind. He had hoped to forget about the argument while he was at practice. Something told him it wasn't going to happen.

"While I was napping, did I miss any improvements in chivalry?" Emma asked, as she passed Kris and came to sit at the exact place he had been only moments before. Hatter watched both of them, as he handed Emma the rose. Kris looked very uncomfortable, and very hurt. Having read the script during his memorizing, he knew that at this point Lancelot was in love with Guenevere. However, Guenevere found him quite annoying, selfish and arrogant. It wouldn't be until the end of Act One when she realized that she too, was in love with him.

"No, Your Majesty." Kris mumbled. "If you will excuse me."

"Milord!" Emma called curtly, as Kris turned to leave. "When you're arranging things with God tonight, do be sure and give us nice weather tomorrow."

"No one can refuse your wish, Milady." Kris said, his back to them all. "Good night, Sire. Good night Milord."

The three of them watched as Kris silently and sadly left the stage. Almost immediately after he was out of sight Daniel jumped toward Hatter whispering loudly.

"Terrible chap." He whispered with obvious dislike. "Doesn't take after his father, I'll tell you that. I knew the old King. Good man. Had a bad attack of the liver last time I saw him. Yellow as a buttercup. Horrible!"

Choosing to ignore this gossip, as Hatter believed Arthur would, he turned to face Emma who was admiring her note and rose.

"Jenny, why do you persist on baiting the boy?"

"Baiting?" Emma said, turning the face him, her eyebrow arched with an annoyed air about her. "Not at all. Haven't you heard his latest claim? He says he can perform _miracles_!"

"Oh come now." Hatter said. "It's quite obvious that it was merely a figure of speech."

"Nonsense." Emma curtly replied. "He announced to the Knights as clear as a bell that his purity gives him miraculous powers."

Hatter could feel his annoyance growing. Emma was behaving almost exactly like Alice when he had left for practice. Of course, they were not saying the exact same words but their mannerisms were almost exactly the same. "And I tell _you _clear as a bell that he was referring to his physical prowess, which is vast indeed."

Daniel stood up happily. Hatter had almost forgotten he was there. "Well, we shall see about his physical prowess in the tournament tomorrow. Sagramore, Lionel and Dinaden have all challenged him to a joust. Three damn strong men."

"He's accepted to fight all three on the same day?"

Hatter watched as Daniel nodded, gathering up the backgammon board game. "Quite. I tell you, Arthur, in all my travels I've never met anyone like him. Doesn't drink. Has no lady. Talks to no one but you and God. Crammed full of religion. An all around unpleasant fellow."

With his eyebrow arched with annoyance, Hatter watched as Emma rose from her seat to indicate Daniel, completely ignoring Hatter as if he weren't even there. "Pelly, please tell the Chamberlain the order of jousts tomorrow will be Dinaden, Sagramore and Lionel."

"The big chap last, what?" Daniel asked her as he did a slight bow to her and turned on the spot. "Splendid arrangement. By Jove, what a day. Yours Merrily can hardly wait. Good night, Arthur. Good night, M'am. The big one last, eh?" He laughed deeply as he left the stage.

There was a moment of silence, as Hatter and Emma stared at each other. He watched as Emma began to twirl her rose, nodding to it, so Hatter would know it was there. "A note of thanks from Sir Lionel. I'm allowing him to carry my kerchief tomorrow."

"Jenny, I would be grateful if you'd withdraw your permission from Sir Lionel."

"At this late date, Arthur? It would be rather awkward."

"Then let Lancelot carry your kerchief against Sagramore."

"I promised it to Sagramore."

"Then against Dinaden."

"He asked so prettily, I couldn't refuse." Emma said as she resumed her seat, still twirling her rose.

Hatter had really hoped to completely forget about how annoyed he was with Alice and that she was being completely unreasonable. However, memories were flashing through his head. Not just of the morning, but it seemed like every argument or negative conversation they had ever had.

"This is appalling! Jenny there are issues involved here which obviously you've overlooked. It will seem to the Court as if you're rooting for his downfall, championing his defeat."

"We don't _know_ he'll be defeated." Emma replied to him rather snottily. "Besides, he knocked you unconscious and you woke up his bosom friend. Perhaps he'll knock them out, too, and they'll all take a house by the sea together."

Hatter's actual anger surged as another memory flashed though his head. One of he and Alice in Wonderland. Arguing about the ring on the beach, and her father. The anger and annoyance he had felt then had seemed like a distant memory but now it felt like moments ago. "Jenny, at the risk of disappointing the other knights, I ask you to withdraw your permission from all."

"Arthur, I believe you're jealous of the Knights and their attentions to me. Are you, my love?"

Another memory flashed through Hatter's mind. Once again of times in Wonderland. He and Alice were at the Kingdom of the Knights. Jack was there. Alice wasn't listening to him anymore. Her eyes only on Jack.

"Jealous? _Jealous?_ What absolute rubbish!" He yelled angrily, taking a step towards her. She only flinched a little. "You know perfectly well I'm delighted the Court adores you. I'd be astonished if they didn't. And I trust you as I do God above. They've carried your kerchief in tournament a hundred times, and…and…"

Hatter paused and took a deep breath. He couldn't let his actual annoyance and anger get through, it wouldn't be fair to Emma, who had done nothing. Very calmly, he recited his next line. "Jenny, you've dragged me off the subject and I want to get back on it. Will you withdraw your permission?"

"Only if you command me. As King." Emma told him, in almost a whisper her arms now crossed.

"And if I do, will you forgive me?"

"Never."

Hatter could feel his jaw tighten as he sank back into the chair. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the orchestra start to pick up their instruments but Hatter didn't care anymore. Another memory flashed through his mind, a time when he felt that Alice didn't trust him and seemed like she never would. A time when she was only focused on Jack and getting home. A time when she didn't listen to reason, when she didn't listen to him. Based on their argument, it seemed that had not changed.

"If I ask as your husband, will you, as a favor?" Hatter asked curtly, barley looking at Emma.

Out of the corner of his eye again, Hatter could see Emma rise up, hands on her hips. "No. The Knights are against him, and I quite agree with them. I find him just as overbearing and pretentious as they do."

" That is _not_ the issue. The issue is your kerchief. Can we not stay on the subject?"

They stared at each other for a moment in tense silence. Almost exactly as he and Alice had earlier that day. Hatter watched as Emma took a deep breath, just as Alice had.

"There is nothing more to be said." She said calmly. "If the King wishes me to withdraw permission, let him command me! And Yours Humbly will graciously obey."

Hatter turned angrily toward the front of the stage. Getting up from his seat, he threw his hands up in exasperation. "Blast you, Merlyn! This is all your fault!"

The orchestra suddenly began to play as he turned again, staring at nothing. He could feel his anger and annoyance bubbling. This scene really wasn't helping his mood. "_You swore that you had taught me ev'rything from A to Zay, with nary an omission in between._"

At least he was still doing the scene, and with him actually being annoyed it was becoming real again. "_Well, I shall tell you what you obviously forgot: how a ruler rules a Queen!"_

He paced over towards the throne as the music continued to fill the theater. Hatter sat down and leaned forward eyes still staring at nothing. "_And what of teaching me by turning me to animal and bird, from beaver to the smallest bobolink! I should have had a whirl at changing to a girl, to learn the way the creatures think!_"

Getting up again he continued to pace angrily. Alice clear in his mind. Why was she so stubborn? Why was it that Guenevere had to act so much like her to make him so annoyed?

It wasn't until the music suddenly slowed down until Hatter realized that he had stopped pacing and had stopped dead in his tracks in the middle of the stage. The new pace of the music had made him stop. "_But wasn't there a night, on a summer long gone by, We pass'd a couple wrangling away; And did I not say, Merlyn: What if that chap were I? And did he not give counsel and say…" _

He put his hand on his head. As if he was trying to remember. "What was it now? My mind's a wall, Oh, yes...By Jove, now I recall."

Alice flashed in his mind again. Only this time it was a memory of what seemed like long ago. Up in his office, in Wonderland. She was wearing her very wet dress. Hatter was trying to get her to come with him to take her to Dodo. "_How to handle a woman? There's a way, said the wise old man; a way known by ev'ry woman Since the whole rigmarole began._"

"_Do I flatter her? 1 begged him answer… Do I threaten or cajole or plead? Do I brood or play the gay romancer? Said he, smiling: No indeed._ _How to handle a woman? Mark me well, I will tell you, Sir:" _This time, Hatter found himself smiling, he looked to the left, as he thought Arthur would do and imagined the old wizard beside him.

As if it were plain as day, in the back of his mind, Hatter could Alice again. They were still in Wonderland. It was night and she was staring into the fire. Hatter was watching._ "The way to handle a woman_ _is to love her… simply love her…merely love her…love her…love her." _

The music continued as Hatter paused. He couldn't get Alice's face out of his mind. Her long brown hair, massive blue eyes, delicate smile…why had she been so mad at him? No. Hatter couldn't let himself get distracted. He had to finish the scene. Hatter looked over towards the unfinished arch where Emma had walked off.

"What's wrong, Jenny?" Hatter recited taking a few steps towards it. "Where are you these days? What are you thinking? I don't understand you. But no matter. Merlyn told me once: Never be too disturbed if you don't understand what a woman is thinking. They don't do it often. But what do you do while they're doing it?"

Hatter stopped again and smiled to himself as the music surrounded him. He was in a blur. In his mind, he was standing in Carol's flat. Waiting for Alice to appear. When she did, he could feel his heart flutter as they stared into each other's eyes from the opposite ends of the room. He felt a surge of emotion when she cried out his name and ran to him. When she jumped into his arms, the entire world stopped. But he couldn't let it stop. The scene was almost over.

Hatter smiled. He took a deep and shaky breath as he opened his mouth to sing again, the image of he and Alice clutching each other. That wonderful feeling.

"_How to handle a woman? Mark me well, I will tell you, Sir: The way to handle a woman… Is to love her…simply love her…merely love her…love her…love her._"

XXXXXXXXXX

Hatter had to get back to his teashop. He had to talk to Alice. They shouldn't have left it the way they did. He still wasn't sure why exactly she was still cross with him but he wanted to try to figure it out. Hatter wanted to try to understand, he wanted her to know that loved her and cared.

Katherine had been surprisingly supportive when he jumped off the stage to ask if he could go home early. Probably she could tell something was up by the look on his face. Luckily for him, Katherine wasn't one to pry.

The theatre hallway was darker than it had been when he first arrived early that day. Quite a lot of time had been spent inside the windowless part of the theatre, and now it was evening. Alice would still be at the teashop and if he hurried, he could catch her before she left for the dojo.

However, a sound of sniveling stopped him in his tracks. Sally sat by a garbage can in a heap. She had her knees up to her chin and her eyes were downcast to the floor. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She didn't see Hatter.

That was actually the first time Hatter had seen Sally all day. A few days actually. She had even stopped coming to his teashop. He had figured that she had found some other guy such as Kris or Daniel to follow around and hadn't thought much of it. Now, as he watched her cry and sniffle he couldn't help but feel a twinge of worry. Had something bad happened to her?

"Sally?"

She jumped at the sound of his voice and looked up stunned. Quickly wiping the tears from her cheeks she sat up straighter. "David!" She said shakily as he took a step towards her. "What're you doing here?"

"I was just about to go actually." Hatter admitted, still staring at her. He had never thought that he would see go-lucky Sally curled up in a ball and crying. She was annoying sometimes sure, but she was sweet and had a good heart. Hatter didn't like seeing her this way. "Everythin' alright?"

"Everything is fine."

"Doesn't look like it." Hatter didn't have a lot of time before Alice left for the dojo but he found himself sitting on the floor beside her anyway. He could spare a few minutes, just to make sure everything was okay. "Come on. Out with it. What's the matter?"

"It's nothing really." Sally said again, sniffing loudly. "Just a bad few days."

"What do you mean?"

Sally shook her head and began to sob again. Hatter was completely unsure of what to do. He had no real experience with kids. No one was going to be looking for her, By the looks of things, Sally hadn't even gone inside to the theater. Hatter doubted they even knew she was here so it wasn't like someone was going to come in looking for them and be able to help. He could perhaps go get someone who could help but he also didn't want to leave her alone in her current state. But he couldn't do nothing and just watch her cry. Timidly, he put his hand on her shoulder, still unsure.

Without warning, she flung herself into his arms and buried her head into his chest. Her sobbing continued as he just sat there, hands on her shoulders, still pretty much unsure at what to do. However, something told him that was all he really needed to do.

After awhile she calmed down, still sniffling into his t-shirt. He patted her back gently as she straightened herself and refused to look at him, still wiping her tears. Hatter watched her silently as she struggled to speak.

"David?" She asked after a minute. "Why is it that everyone finds me irritating? I mean, it's like no one really likes me. They tolerate me sure but no one seems to really enjoy me being around."

Hatter wasn't quite sure what to say. From what he had noticed about Sally when he had seen her with others it was usually with a group of people. Girls usually, doing what Hatter assumed was their usual girlish things. But Sally had never seen upset at those times, and her friends hadn't seemed irritated with her.

"I had made these," Sally said quietly, pulling out a box of what looked like chocolates "for a guy I like but he didn't want them. Refused and then called me irritating and that I was stalking him. Since then, it seems like everyone is getting angry with me and doesn't want me to be around them. I didn't mean it! It's just that when I like someone, I want to make them happy, because I like to see them that way but it seems to always backfire."

What was he going to say to that? Hatter had no experience in this type of thing at all. How was he going to console this sad little girl? How could anyone say that to Sally? Hatter could feel his jaw clench slightly when he thought about it. When she had baked him treats and followed him around constantly, it had been annoying sure but he would never have said something along those lines to her, ever. The truth was, Hatter actually liked her. Even when she had been following him around constantly. She was nice and caring and just a bit on the crazy side so things were always interesting when she was around. He couldn't just not say anything, not the way she was looking at him.

"Whoever he is," Hatter began slowly. "he's missin' out. You're a real special kid, Sally. Very kind and compassionate towards others. All that time you take to make those chocolates and other snacks? It's hard work. He should be appreciative for all the time and the sacrifice you put in to make him happy."

He paused for a moment, as Sally suddenly jumped up and hugged him, crying. _'He should be appreciative for all the time and the sacrifice you put in to make him happy_'

Suddenly, Hatter understood. He understood why Alice was so cross with him. She was sacrificing a lot so he could be in the play and what did he do about it? Take a larger part that would force her to work even harder. It wasn't because he had taken the part of Arthur she was upset, it was because she felt unappreciated. Hatter did appreciate all that she was doing. Alice just needed to know that. How? How could he tell her? Show her? Suddenly, he had an idea.

Sally calmed down after a moment. As she pulled away, smiling through her tears. "Thank you, David."

"It's nothing. We all need a pick me up once and awhile, yeah?"

Sally nodded and smiled again. "You can keep the chocolates if you want to." She said to him quickly avoiding his gaze again.

Hatter could feel his eyebrows arch a little. Sally's face was red, it may have been from the crying but it seemed a bit redder than it had before, even when he had been crying. If she had gotten over her crush on him before, it was back again. Something told Hatter that he would be seeing Sally in the teashop the next day.

"Thanks," Hatter said as brightly as he could as he stood up. "I bet they taste delicious. I have to go for now, but I'll see you later."

Hatter picked up the box of chocolates she had made and flashed his dimples at her. "Sally?" He asked after a minute. "Do you have any paper and a pen on you by any chance?"

XXXXXXXXXX

He ran to the door of the teashop, hoping with all of his might that Alice was still inside. As quickly as he could he opened the door. They were still open.

Hatter smiled to himself as he walked through the door. As he did so, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper. He had thought it was going to be difficult, but Hatter had learned quickly that once he had started writing all of the things he had wanted to say seemed to suddenly appear of that small piece of paper. He hoped Alice would like it. Clutching the piece of paper in his hand, he weaved around the customers, nodding to those who greeted him but not stopping for conversation. He needed to find Alice.

She was in the back, washing dishes. Her hair was back in a ponytail and her forehead glistened with beads of sweat. Alice's mouth was still tight with anger as he opened the door.

"I thought you had practice." She snapped angrily as he walked in. Obviously her issues with him had not subsided since that morning, as they hadn't for the past three days.

"I got Katherine to let me out early." Hatter explained to her, "Alice, I know why you're cross with me."

"Oh really?"

"Yes really. But we can't do anything about it now. I took the part of Arthur and I have to do it. I _want_ to do it."

He smiled to himself as she turned around to stare at him angrily. "No, that's not it Hatter!" She paused, as he thought she would, suddenly perplexed by his smile. "Why are you smiling?"

"Being involved in Camelot has been good for me." Hatter told her. "And I'm enjoying doing it."

He watched as she rolled her eyes. "I know you enjoy it Hatter. But you still don't understand why I'm upset."

"Let me finish."

His smile widened as she stared at him, her anger slightly diminishing, to be replaced by couriosity.

"I want to read you something." He said gesturing to the piece of paper in his hand. "I said that we couldn't do anything about me being Arthur but you need to know this. Katherine is having us write biographies for the program. This is mine."

_David Hatter was born in Yorkshire, England. The production of Camelot is his first performance on the stage and he is looking forward to the experience. However, he wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for his fiancée, Alice Hamilton for believing in him and pressuring him to get involved. All of the sacrifices she made to allow him to participate did not go unnoticed. The long hours she put in to both their teashop and her second job were very much appreciated. For everything she has done and much more, he dedicates his performance in her honor._

**A/N:**

**I could have gone on but that felt like a good place to stop. You can imagine what happened next for this lovely couple. This is sooo long! I love it when I get enough ideas to write a longer chapter! Congratulations to me! Yay!**

**Set building has launched and the orchestra is beginning to practice. Opening Night is almost upon Hatter! **

**The song, How to Handle a Woman is beautiful. I suggest if you havn't listened to it that you do. You can find it on YouTube.**

**Psst! Hey you! Yeah you! Come on, press the little review button! You know you want to! Come on! **


	13. Proposition

**A/N:**

**I apologize everyone. I have started writing a new story-which ironically was inspired by this story when I mentioned how Hatter lost his parents in the first chapter way back when. After I became anemic with the cursed Writer's Block, I decided to finally start writing it and then I couldn't stop! Luckily, I am cured! The Writer's Block is no more! Rejoice! Both stories will be alternated from now on until this one is finished, but that won't be very long since it's almost done! But I don't want to think about that since it makes me cry!**

**It's time for Hatter to step on the stage now, let's check it out!**

_"Yah! Yah! Yah! Yah! Yah! Yah!" _

Hatter felt rather stupid, staring off into nothing as the music engulfed the stage. He wasn't alone however, Emma sat by his side on her throne and cast him a weary glance.

The scene they were doing was the one of the final scenes in Act One. The Joust. The entire Camelot Cast-minus a few backstage waiting to come on, crowded the stage, staring off into the distance. All but Hatter, Emma and Daniel sang brightly.

_"Sir Dinaden! Sir Dinaden! Oh, there he goes with all his might and main. He's got a steady grip upon the rein!"_

It most certainly had a different feel being on stage now. The sets were finished, and the orchestra was now officially with them. Plus they were in costume. Hatter had been ready for it, but was shocked that it all came together so quickly. But he shouldn't have been so surprised. It was after all a dress rehearsal.

The First Act had run smoothly with hardly any interruptions. Hatter had been worried at first but they were on the final scene before the end of the act and no major catastrophes, yet. Oh sure, they had to wait a few extra minutes for Hatter to switch out of his character's lounge clothes from the previous scene, into the purple kingly outfit Hatter had found for Adam, luckily it fit him rather well. He gently fixed the crown on his head as the chorus continued.

_"Sir Dinaden! Sir Dinaden! Oh, try to gallop by him on the right, For that's the arm where you have all the might."_

Hatter leaned forward, trying his best to imagine the scene that Arthur was supposedly watching. In the scenes previous, Guenevere had convinced three knights to challenge Lancelot to a joust, to teach him a lesson. Arthur had been very worried; Hatter hoped that it showed on his face.

_"Sir Dinaden is raising up his spear! Oh, charge him, Dinaden! You have him now, so charge him, Dinaden! Here comes the blow! Here comes the blow!"_

There was a sudden crash backstage, Hatter had been expecting it but it still made him jump ever so slightly. At his side, Emma sank into her throne, obviously upset.

"_Oh, no!" _

Hatter smiled, as he thought Arthur would. Dinaden had apparently lost to Lancelot. He turned his head as two of the chorus members stepped forward as the music died down slightly.

"Twos luck, that's all it was; pure luck and nothing more." One of them said.

"Sagramore will even up the score."

"The Frenchman struck him first, but the blow was not that great."

"Sagramore will open up his pate."

Why was it that it seemed that everyone but Arthur hated Lancelot with a passion? Sure, he was arrogant and self-centered but the guy had a good heart-or at least the way Kris made him out to seem this way. Hatter wondered to himself as the music picked up again and the chorus members swarmed back into the crowd he completely forgot what he was wondering and leaned forward, trying to be in character.

_"Sir Sagramore! He's riding on the field! Oh, there's the black and crimson of his shield!"_

The joust had apparently begun again. Hatter looked over towards Emma, who now was also leaning forward with a smirk on her face. She was totally in character again. Hatter swallowed as he stared off into the far end of the stage, once again imagining the joust.

_"There he goes! There he goes! He's bending low and spurring on his steed. He's charging him at record breaking speed."_

The music engulfed the stage again, the only thing Hatter could really do was continue to stare like a complete idiot. He wasn't sure what it was about the scene. Hatter never felt like an idiot with his other scenes. Perhaps it was because his character had yet to say anything as his character. He was simply sitting there on his throne. That was going to change very quickly.

_"Sagramore! Oh, make his armor crack and split in two…a mighty whack as only you can do. Now, look you through the dust! Sir Sagramore is ready for the thrust! And now they're circling 'round! Sir Sagramore will drive him to the ground! Here comes…the blow! Here comes…the blow! Oh no!"_

Hatter flashed a dimpled smile as the music died down again. Turning over towards Emma, who was once again slouched in her throne as he opened his mouth. "He did that rather well, don't you think, dear?"

His words echoed throughout the theatre. His microphone was indeed on. His smile grew into a wide grin as he remembered his first reaction to the microphone at the beginning of the dress rehearsal. At first it had been shocking but he had soon gotten used to it. In fact, because it was a dress rehearsal and they were trying to figure out how to work the microphones, it was fun to try to guess when they were on and when they weren't. Emma glared at him for a moment, as he continued to smile down at her.

"That horse of Sagramore's is too old." She said firmly.

"But felling Dinaden with one blow, dear…"

Emma frowned at him with distaste. "Sir Dinaden, I am told, has a nasty cold."

Hatter shrugged, his smile still wide on his face as he thought Arthur would have. Guenevere was going to eat her words at this rate.

_"Sir Lionel! Sir Lionel! Oh, charge at him and throw him off his horse! Oh, show him what we mean by English force!"_

They turned back towards the front of the stage, completely immersed in what was supposedly going on. Hatter was finding it easier and easier to do.

_"Sir Lionel! Sir Lionel! I've never seen him ever ride as fast! That Frenchman will be hopelessly outclass'd! His spear is in the air! I tell you Lancelot hasn't got a pray'r! His shield is much too low! A good hard thrust and downward he will go! And here's the blow! Here comes…the blow!"_

There was another loud crash backstage as the entire cast gasped in horror. Hatter leaned forward, his mouth agape as Emma did the same.

_"Oh, no! Oh, no! Sir Lionel is down! Dear God, it isn't true! Sir Lionel is dead! The spear has run him through!"_

Silence filled the stage as Hatter and Emma stood up from their thrones and walked to the center. Kris stepped onto the stage, tears in his eyes carrying the chorus member who was Lionel and setting him at Hatter's feet. Kneeling beside him, Hatter took in a slight breath, before shaking his head trying to indicate to what would be the audience that the character was indeed dead. He rose, as Emma through herself against him, sobbing into his shoulder. Hatter held her, as he imagined Arthur would do.

Without a word, Kris kneeled beside the lifeless form that was once Lionel. He took his limp hand in his and bowed his head as if in prayer, pressing Lionel's hand against him, as if trying to force his own life into the lifeless man before him. Hatter shook his head, as if in grief.

Suddenly a finger twitched. Lionel's hand moved. Then his arm! Then an eyelid flickered And the chorus member slowly, painfully, dazedly, lifted himself to one elbow. The crowd gasped as Kris rose. Emma lifted her head from Hatter's shoulder in amazement as Hatter stared from both Kris to the chorus member in shock. Even though they had practiced this scene many times, for some reason it felt more real than ever before. It had never seemed this way while practicing without the lights or costumes but with them, it seemed, that Lancelot had poured so much of his own life into Lionel that for a moment he was drained. Without a word, he slowly crossed the stage. As he passed each Knight and Lady, they bowed and curtsied low and humble before him.

The last person he passed was Emma. He stopped before her and bowed. He rose, and their eyes met and looked deep into each other's. She gasped for a moment, mouth agape. They stood, transfixed by each other's eyes. Hatter stood beside Emma, forgotten as Kris turned and slowly, ever so slowly walked off the stage. Even though it was a play, Hatter could feel a lump in his throat. He blamed the costumes and lights. They made it seem so real. Jack stood clearly in his mind. He could see Alice with him. He had felt this feeling before. It wasn't a good one. But he couldn't let himself get too emotional. He had to continue the scene.

The lights slowly began to fade on everyone but Hatter as he stepped forward. There was a spotlight that followed him to the very middle of the stage as everyone else froze in place, all but one that is. Hatter stared at the back of the theatre. Thinking, not just about the scene, but of Jack and Alice and how he had felt that day when she left with him. Suddenly, he was pulled from his thoughts as he was clasped on the back, making him jump. Daniel stood beside him smiling.

"A miracle, Arthur! A miracle! By jove! Absolutely miraculous, what? Imagine restoring that chap to life. And that's a big chap, Arthur. An enormous big chap. I mean, however the boy did it, it took an awful lot of whatever it is he uses, what?"

Hatter looked over at him without a word as he continued. "I say! Do you think he could help my rheumatism? Or does he only go in for bigger things? I mean, from sleeping out all those years I have a pain that starts about here…"

Rolling his eyes, at Daniel, Hatter shook his head. "I don't know, Pellinore. I don't know. The boy is in the hall. Go down and ask him. The walk will do you good and the quiet will do me good."

"I say! That's a bit snappy, Arthur. Very well, I shall."

He watched as Daniel started to leave. "Wait, Pelly. It was a bit _snappy_. I apologize."

"Of course. Unimportant. Have a spot, what?"

"No, thank you." Hatter said, before pausing, then taking a step towards Daniel, his voice almost breaking, Jack and Alice still in his mind. "You've never been in love, have you Pelly?"

"No time, old man. Been too busy chasing the Beast. Now I'm not young enough. Or old enough."

Hatter turned away from him, as if completely transfixed with his own thoughts. "And I'm too young and too old. Too old not to be uncertain of fears that may phantom, and too young not to be tormented by them."

"How's that. Arthur?" Daniel asked as Emma stepped into the spotlight. Out of the corner of his eye, Hatter could see the chorus members starting to move things in the darkness, for the next scene. He stared at Emma, his eyes wide. She avoided his gaze as Daniel smiled at her, oblivious to it all. "Well, M'am, it was quite a day, what?"

"Yes, it was, Pelly."

"I must say, you were very generous with the boy, M'am. When he stood there looking at you and you stood there looking at him, it was very touching. Didn't you think so, Arthur?"

"Pelly, summon the Chamberlain. Alert the Court there are to be festivities this evening." Hatter said quickly, he felt that Arthur wouldn't want to think about it, he himself didn't want to think about it. This scene reminded him so much of what could have happened, if Alice had chosen Jack. It brought back fears and memories he tried to subdue every time the man was brought up.

He watched, as Daniel nodded his head and walked off into the darkness of the stage. Hatter turned towards Emma, before he leaned towards the way Daniel had gone, calling out to him. "Have him come to my study. And bring the names of those awaiting knighthood."

There was silence between the two. Awkward silence. Hatter stepped forward. "You seem tired, Jenny."

"I am, rather."

"I'm sorry to have to put you through a formal affair tonight, but I thought Lance should be invested immediately."

Emma nodded, giving him a weak smile. "Oh, I agree. I shall be all right."

Hatter smiled a dimpled grin, stepping closer to her with great enthusiasm. He felt that Arthur would try his best, after all, he still loved her. "Jenny, tomorrow why don't you take Lady Anne and go to the lodge for a few days? She always amuses you with her gossip of the Court. I'll join you for the weekend. It might do you good to get away from Round Tables and chivalry for a little while. Don't you think?"

She looked over at him, tears in her eyes and didn't answer. The way she was looking at him, Alice's face flashed in his mind. When she had learned that he wasn't going to be coming with her and Jack to see Caterpillar. Hatter stepped forward again, his voice cracking a bit. "Don't you think?"

She still didn't answer. Hatter took a deep breath and turned to walk off stage. The lump in his throat still large. Why was it that this character could bring out such emotion in him? He could hear the music swell as Emma began to talk to herself.

Hatter needed to find his sword, Excalibur. He needed the sword for the next scene. Where was it? He also needed to change his costume. For this scene, he was to wear a golden cape and his suit of armor.

A few minutes later, Hatter stepped out of the dressing room in his new costume. He fixed the crown on his head as he headed back towards the stage. Daniel stood there, holding his sword and expression grim.

"David," He said, holding out the sword. "You okay?"

Hatter nodded as he took the sword. "Yeah." He lied. "I'm fine."

He was indeed not fine, as they stood backstage watching the scene. Emma and Kris stood in the spotlight, they stared at each other, as music continued to play.

"Jenny, I love you. God forgive me, but I do." Kris said in almost a whisper. His microphone was on luckily, however, it echoed thought out the back of the theatre. Hatter could feel his breath catch.

"God forgive us both, Lance." Emma whispered, leaning in close to him. Hatter shook his head, he had to get it together. This was _not _Jack and Alice. Alice was with him, she was marrying _him_. He didn't have to feel threatened, but why did he? He had to go back on stage now. Arthur knew that they were in love, but he didn't want them to know he knew. Hatter slapped on a stupid grin as he walked onto the dark stage.

Hatter stepped into the spotlight, grinning from ear to ear as Emma and Kris stepped back as quickly as they could. "Lance! What a stunning achievement, my boy! And the Court! You could almost hear everyone's heart break open to you." He laughed, mostly to himself as he clasped Kris on the back. "Surely I may arrange for your knighthood now. Unfortunately, sainthood is not in my power." 

"I shall be honored, Arthur."

"You both must hurry and dress. But before you do, I think we three should have a quiet drink together." Hatter said, motioning towards the darkness, as someone cast as a Page came forward with a tray of drinks. "If you'll make an exception, Lance."

Hatter took the tray from the Page, and began to pour the drinks. As he did so, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Kris and Emma stare at each other. He had to keep it together. He couldn't think about anything but the scene now.

"Do you have any idea the impact the miracle will have on the country?" He asked as he handed them each a glass. "When this is known, they'll be flocking to the Round Table from one end of England to the other…from Scotland…Wales…and all those quests we've been planning for the Knights may not even be necessary…I mean, when people hear…what has happened at Camelot…they may lay down their arms and come of their own free will…it's quite possible no one will bear arms at all any more…and that there will really be peace…all borders will disappear…and all the things I dreamed…I dreamed…I dreamed…"

Neither of them responded, still staring into each other's eyes. Hatter looked from both of them and sighed. It was no use. The lights on the stage suddenly began to burn brightly. Hatter had to blink several times before he could properly see. Behind him was once again the entire cast. His throne was now directly behind him in the middle of the stage. The Page had taken the drinks and walked off stage. Hatter turned to sit at Arthur's throne, holding Excalibur on the hilt. Emma followed him, tears still in her eyes. They sat beside each other as Kris got in line with the other knights.

Rick stood beside Daniel, holding a large scroll. "To be invested Knights of the Round Table of England: of Brackley, Colgrevance."

One of the knights stepped forward and bowed before Hatter. Taking Excalibur, Hatter gently placed it on the boy's shoulders as he had been instructed by Katherine to do. Knighting him. After he was knighted, he stood and bowed before Hatter, and then to Emma before walking off the stage.

"Of Winchester, Bliant." Rick said, again.

Another actor stepped forward and did the same as the last. Hatter responded the same.

"Of Wales, Guilliam."

The same.

"Of Cornwall, Castor."

The same once again.

"Of Joyous Gard, Lancelot du Lac."

Kris slowly stepped forward and kneeled before Hatter, just as the others had done. Hatter however, paused. He felt that Arthur would be reluctant for a moment, but only a moment. He knighted him just the same.

Everything froze in place as slow music began. Hatter stepped past the frozen in place Kris as the lights once again, slowly dimmed to a single spotlight.

"Proposition: If I could choose, from every woman who breathes on this earth, the face I would most love, the smile, the touch, the voice, the heart, the laugh, the soul itself, every detail and feature to the smallest strand of hair- they would all be Jenny's."

Hatter smiled to himself, as he believed Arthur would, thinking about it. "Proposition: If I could choose from every man who breathes on this earth a man for my brother and a man for my son, a man for my friend, they would all be Lance."

Jack, once again intruded Hatter's mind. He could see before him, plain as day, he and Alice back in Wonderland holding each other, hugging goodbye. Although now, Hatter knew what it had been about, the feeling of rejection and pain mounted before him.

"Yes, I love them. I love them, and they answer me with pain and torment. Be it sin or not sin, they betray me in their hearts, and that's far sin enough. I see it in their eyes and feel it when they speak, and they must pay for it and be punished. I shan't be wounded and not return it in kind. I'm done with feeble hoping. I demand a man's vengeance!"

Hatter stopped and took a deep breath. This was probably one of the most emotional monologues he had ever done, but when they had done it during practice, Hatter hadn't really thought of it's meaning. Now, it overpowered him, making it hard to do the scene. He began again, slowly.

"Proposition: I'm a king, not a man. And a civilized king. Could it possibly be civilized to destroy what I love? Could it possibly be civilized to love myself above all? What of their pain and their torment? Did they ask for this calamity? Can passion be selected? Is there any doubt of their devotion…to me, or to our Table?"

Although he had never done so in the past, he raised the sword high above his head. It felt right. "By God, Excalibur, I shall be a King! This is the time of King Arthur, and we reach for the stars!"

He brought the sword down to his level, staring off into the nothingness. He could feel his heart beating with every word.

"This is the time of King Arthur, and violence is not strength and compassion is not weakness. We are civilized! Resolved: We shall live through this together, Excalibur. They, you and I! And God have mercy on us all."

Hatter relaxed a bit. He was almost done with the scene. This part, had nothing to do with he, Alice or Jack. Yet, Hatter could feel himself, as he was saying the lines calm down. He was becoming King Arthur, he knew it. King Arthur was at peace about his decision.

"They're waiting for us at the table. Let's not delay the celebration."

**A/N:**

**Holy Cow! I got three different scenes into**_** one chapter**_**! This, in my opinion is a great accomplishment. Although, I did skip most of the scene between Lancelot and Guenevere as well as the song **_**Before I Gaze at You Again**_** but Hatter was changing into his costume, so I felt the need to just skip to the end. If you want to hear that song, you can find it on YouTube.**

**Was this a good chapter? Bad chapter? By Jove, I want to know what you think, what! **

**We're nearing the end, in fact, next chapter will be titled Opening Night. Don't worry though, it isn't the last chapter. We've got one more after the next one.**


	14. Opening Night

**A/N:**

**I'm not gonna cry…not gonna cry. Here is the second-to last chapter of Hatter's Hobby. All the practice Hatter's been doing is **_**finally **_**going to pay off!**

He stared at himself in the mirror and could swear that he was going vomit. The group around him buzzed about the room excitedly, singing along to the music blaring out of the speakers. It was a combination of music from another musical called "Wicked" as well as "Rocky Horror Picture Show." Hatter however, barely acknowledged any of it.

Instead, he stared at himself in the giant mirror. His body felt numb and out of place and defiantly not himself. The stage makeup looked ridiculous on him, but Katherine had told him that it would look fine from the audience's point of view. But as Hatter stared at himself, face caked with foundation and eyes covered in thick eyeliner—he didn't see it.

He was wearing his first costume—the dirty red vest with black tunic. Hatter had felt that it still worked for Arthur or at least the Arthur in the first scene. The young and immature Arthur.

"You ready?" Kris's voice said from the opposite side of the mirror. He came around the corner fixing his microphone. "It's almost time to get on stage."

Hatter looked at the man with a stiff head nod as his stomach gave another lurch. Without a word to Kris, he turned around and headed toward the door that led to the stage. It wasn't that he wanted to be rude, he just felt that if he said anything he was going to lose it.

"David!" Kris said, following him. "You forgot this in there."

In his hand, was the microphone. Hatter looked at it a moment, with another jolt to his stomach, it really was time to start the performance. This feeling, almost helplessness was very frustrating for Hatter as he took it.

"If you get nervous out there," He whispered helping Hatter with his microphone. "Just picture everyone in their underwear. _Always _works for me in _any _situation."

XXXXXXXXXX

He could hear the chatter die down out in the audience as he fixed his microphone for the last time and walked onto the stage, there stood a large tree on his side of the curtain. Hatter took a deep breath as out of the corner of his eye, he could see the lights from the bottom of the curtain turn into a spotlight as someone stepped onto the stage. It was Katherine.

"Hello everyone!" She said brightly, "Welcome to Loener Community Theatre's production of Camelot! I'm Katherine Matthews, the director and I just wanted to come out here to remind you of a few things. They are the basic things, but we've gotta go through them you know. We've put a lot of work into this over the past three months and want to make sure that you get the best performance possible. Please turn off all cell phones and electronic devices, as they will affect the microphones of the actors. If you have to get up and leave the theater we ask that you do it in between scenes and not while our actors are performing. No flash photography or video recordings, you know the drill. So, without further ado, it's my personal pleasure to present Lerner and Lowe's _Camelot_!"

The Overture suddenly began. As the music twisted this way and that throughout the theater, Hatter could feel his heartbeat increase even faster. Looking over to the dimly lit backstage, he could barely make out Emma, in Gunevere's wedding dress fixing her microphone.

He took another deep breath as he could see some people start to walk onto the stage and the curtains began to part. Reaching up, he pulled himself up onto the papier-mâché tree. As he sat on the chair, attached to the wooden base so that he could not fall through, he let it out.

The first scene, the one that stared the play was always the hardest for Hatter to do during the performances. He just couldn't find anything from his life to base it on, to be real. He had even decided to use his odd friendship with Charlie as the core for Arthur's scenes with Lancelot. But Arthur's scenes with Arthur? That was difficult.

From his perch, he could see the shadows of Rick and the woman out of the corner of his eye as the lights suddenly illuminated the stage. They stood in front of the tree, looking towards the farthest part of the stage, or at least this is what Hatter assumed. It was after all what had been rehearsed. Hatter watched the shadows they made as Rick's shadow took what looked like a step forward, closer to the audience.

"My Sainted Mother! The carriage has stopped! Someone is getting out. A lady." Hatter heard Rick say.

"Are you sure it's her carriage?" One of the chorus members asked.

"It's pure white. The horses are pure white. It's plainly and obviously a bridal carriage." Rick said again, before pausing. A new shadow stood with them, hunched over and old looking. The shadow's owner seemed to be wearing a huge pointed hat; flowing, heavily embroidered robes and if he squinted, he could make out the long wig and fake beard. Hatter knew it was Daniel, as Merlyn. "Merlyn, here's a calamity. Guenevere's carriage has halted below the hill."

"I know." Daniel said, making his voice sound like an older gentleman. " I remembered she would."

"But it was officially arranged for her to stop here at the top of the hill. Royal brides are always greeted atop the hill. What should we do?"

Hatter could hear Daniel take a deep breath of annoyance. "Dunce! Sound the trumpet, assemble the Court and march to the bottom."

"It's wildly untraditional."

"I hereby proclaim from this time henceforth that all new queens shall be met at the foot of the hill." Daniel said again, almost exasperated. "There! A brand-new tradition! Does that solve it?"

Only a moment of silence before Hatter could hear Rick snapping his fingers. "Sound the trumpet! We shall greet Lady Guenevere at the foot of the hill in _traditional _fashion."

There was snickering from the audience as the shadows of Rick and the Court assembled formally and, with banners flying, paraded across the stage and off. Daniel's shadow paused before the tree and, without looking at it, spoke in a gravely and irritated voice.

"Arthur, come down out of the tree."

Hatter took a sharp breath and closed his eyes.

"Your Majesty, I know you're up there. Come down at once."

His heart was beating so loudly; it was hard to believe that his microphone wasn't picking it up. Opening his eyes, he listened for his cue. This was it.

"Wart, come down at once! You're perfectly safe. There's no one here."

Hatter stuck his head out of the side of the tree and looked down at Daniel, the man nodded to him silently, as softly as he could as not to be seen by the audience. Hatter breathed in sharply, staring intently at Daniel, trying as hard as possible to not look out into the theater, where all those seats were filled.

"Why so angry, Merlyn?" Hatter asked, his voice shaking a bit. "I know you are because you called me Wart."

Daniel shook his head as Hatter jumped down from the tree to stand beside him, his white beard shaking as he did so. "Yes, Wart, Your schoolboy's nickname. That's what your behavior warrants. Perched in a tree trying to steal a look at your bride. Will you never learn patience?"

"I'm the King. Others must learn patience." Hatter said, taking a step toward the man, trying to replace the fear and nervousness in his voice with as much excitement as he could. "How is she, Merlyn? Is she beautiful?"

"I don't recall."

"Rubbish. Are you pretending you don't see into the future?"

"When you live backwards in time as I do, and have the future to remember as well as the past, occasionally you do forget a face."

"Merlyn, as your King, I command you to tell me if she is." Crossing his arms, Hatter turned away from the old wizard. His eyes fell upon the outlines of the dimly lit audience for the first time. They were packed. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as his heart began to beat again, faster than ever before. So many people, all were watching him.

He could hear Daniel sigh, defeated. "She's beautiful."

"Quite, or very?" Hatter asked, his eyebrow arching ever so slightly, looking back at Daniel. He couldn't let the audience get to him, after all, he'd been under worse pressure in Wonderland. He just had to pretend that the audience wasn't there, or perhaps in their knickers as Kris had suggested.

"Very."

It wasn't working! Why was Hatter so nervous? They'd gone through the scene many times and he had never felt this way before. Frustrated by his actual discomfort, he walked toward Daniel. Then again, at this point of the play, Arthur was supposedly feeling nervous as well, at least he could use it to make the scene seem real, for now. "Merlyn, why have you never taught me love and marriage?"

"Don't scramble them together that way. They are two different things. Besides, I did give you a lesson once, but your mind was, as usual, elsewhere. You had better heed me well from now on. I shan't be here long." Daniel said, turning away from Hatter with his hand on his head, as if remembering or having a vision or whatnot.

"Why not?"

"I've told you, I'm due to be bewitched by a nymph named Nimue, who will steal my magic powers and lock me in a cave for several centuries."

Hatter rolled his eyes and walked away from him. It was going to get tricky now, for Arthur was no longer nervous-only irritated. He could do this. His mind was racing, trying to make himself feel the irritation Arthur felt. He could see Charlie, clear in his mind. Rattling off about something or another. About the Alice of Legend and that the 'stars were aligned in a cosmic ray of hope.'

"Nimue! Fiddlesticks! Whenever you're displeased with me, you threaten with this creature Nimue."

"It's not a threat; it will happen." Daniel said, with a nod to him, leaning against the tree gently, a little smirk on his face.

"When you know she is near, change yourself into a bat." Hatter said, taking a moment before turning around flashing a dimpled smile and an arched eyebrow. With a step toward Daniel, he tried to look as innocent and sweet as he could. "Merlyn, do you remember when I was a boy and you changed me into a hawk? What a feeling, sailing through the air! For old times' sake, do it again. Right this minute. One last soar through the sky."

The old man had taken out an apple and was shining it against his robe. "So you can soar through the sky to her carriage and see her through the window? No." He said before taking a big bite of the apple, chewing loudly, even with his microphone on.

As Daniel chewed, Hatter walked over to him stiffly and let out an exasperated sigh. Arthur probably would have done the same, or at least Hatter thought so given the situation. After all, it wasn't fair of the old man to not allow Arthur to see his bride to be. He was only _curious_. The old man was treating him like a boy! "Merlyn, there are times when I insist that you remember who I am. Make me a hawk, or I'll have your head cut off."

He instantly thought of the Queen of Hearts. Hatter wondered, for only a moment how different the play—and the legend would have been if the King Arthur had been anything like her.

"It's you who keep forgetting who you are." Daniel said, with his finger pointed at Hatter angrily. "Think of the joy you've brought to Camelot. A radiant young princess, never before out of her castle, come by treaty to bring peace between peoples. A royal marriage. A new Queen. And where is the King? Swinging in the trees. Thank heaven History never knew. Thank heaven Mallory and Tennyson never found out. Thank heaven your people are not aware of your behavior."

Hatter waved him off with a roll of his eyes as the old wizard turned away from him, heading off stage. He paused a moment before he did so. "Now go back to the castle, my boy. At once."

As the old wizard disappearedas Hatter shook his head angrily and watched him. "My people indeed! As if they give a thought to what I'm doing tonight."

He turned, to face the audience again, with widespread arms. "Oh, good and loyal subjects of the Crown," he yelled. "are you really peering up at the castle with a question mark in each eye, churning to know how stands the King on his bridal eve, throbbing with curiosity about the King's humor on his prenuptial night?"

As he stared out into the blackness before him, he could hear his heart thundering. Hatter put his hands to his sides defeated. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the orchestra lift their instruments and his stomach dropped for what felt like the thousandth time that evening. It was almost time for his song. He did his best not to show it as he shook his head at the darkness before him, where the audience sat. "Yes, you are. That's precisely what you're doing. Every last, blessed one of you."

Hatter took a deep breath as the orchestra began to play. He felt like a robot as he began to sing, exactly as they had practiced.

"_I know what my people are thinking tonight. As home though the shadows they wander. Ev'ryone smiling in secret delight, They stare at the castle and ponder. Whenever the wind blows this way, you can almost ev'ryone say:"_

The music suddenly changed, although Hatter had been prepared for it he found himself almost overwhelmed. Before he knew it, he was taking a step forward.

"_I wonder what the king is doing tonight? What merriment is the king pursuing tonight? The candles at the court, they've never burned as bright. I wonder what the king is up to tonight?"_

Imagining the castle of King Arthur in front of him Hatter pointed towards the horizon. It wasn't apart of what they had practiced of course, but Hatter decided he was just going to go by a gut feeling.

"_How goes the final hour, as he see the bridal bower being regally and legally prepared? Well, I'll tell you what the king is doing tonight. He's scared. He's scared!"_

There was a pause in the music for only a moment, as Hatter shook his head in a frustrated manner. In the back of his mind, he wondered what he would feel like on his actual wedding day? Hatter liked to think that he wouldn't be nervous at all. But Arthur was.

_"You mean that a man who's fought a dragon, hacked him in two and fixed his wagon, goes to be wed in terror and distress? Yes!" _

How would Hatter feel on his wedding day? It couldn't be imagined. Although, the thought of Alice in a wedding dress, coming down the isle made his heart skip a beat. He couldn't think about that now, only the scene.

_"A warrior who's so calm in battle even his armor doesn't rattle faces a woman petrified with fright? Right!" _

Another pause in the music as Hatter let the music take him towards the tree, he turned on the spot however, and stared out towards the darkness of audience, as if they had just asked him a question. He probably looked rather stupid, or at least when it was all over, that is what Hatter would think, however, as he stood up on the stage, it felt right.

_"You mean that appalling clamoring, that sounds like a blacksmith hammering is merely the banging of his royal knees? Please!" _

Now, Hatter leaned against the tree, as they had practiced during rehearsal pointing toward the audience, allowing his eyebrow to arch a bit.

_"You wonder what the king is wishing tonight? He wishes he were in Scotland fishing tonight! What occupies his time while waiting for the bride? He's searching high and low, for someplace to hide!" _

Hatter wondered if Alice was watching. Well of course she was, he knew it. She had come with him to the theater, Carol had come too. He wondered if she wondered how he felt about their soon-to-be wedding? Did Alice know he didn't feel this way at all? Not one of these thoughts had ever entered his mind until he came upon them as Arthur. Did _she_ feel these same thoughts? He could feel his chest tighten at the thought as he added a little flick of his wrist as he continued to sing, despite the little squeak that escaped his mouth as he did so.

"_And oh, the expectation, the sublime anticipation he must feel about the wedding night to come. Well! I'll tell you what the king is feeling tonight: He's numb! He shakes! He quails! He quakes! And that's what the king is doing tonight!" _

Suddenly, as he stood there leaning against the tree, the darkness burst into applause. Hatter let out a small relieved breath. It was over, this hard scene was over. It actually wasn't that hard and he wasn't that nervous anymore. Which was hard to believe, but it was true. All Hatter had to do was forget that anyone was watching him, and let the music and his emotions take him away. It wasn't that hard.

The feeling did not last long however, for in a moment, Emma came running on stage, her white wedding veil dancing behind her. At that instant, Hatter threw himself behind the tree. He peaked out a moment as the frantic girl suddenly fell to her knees and began to sing. There was no time to bask in that _wonderful_ feeling he got as Arthur. They had a show to do!

**A/N:**

**I could have continued on with Simple Joys of Maidenhood, but that goes into a scene previously written so this is what you get!**

**The song I Wonder What the King is Doing Tonight? Is amazing when preformed by Richard Burton from the original Broadway cast, as well as Richard Harris who played Arthur in the movie. I recommend looking both up on YouTube if you don't know this song.**

_**One more chapter**_** and it's over people for us and Hatter! This fanfiction has been ongoing since the end of my own Camelot experience and it's been a way to hold onto the fun and memories of my own adventures! It even stuck through when I was doing Our Town! I am going to miss this little fanfiction and it has been an honor to write it. Thanks for all the support!**


	15. Closing Curtain

**A/N:**

**Here we are…the final chapter. Upon request of the lovely Alania Downs this chapter is super long…it actually contains **_**all**_** of Act Two—minus most of the scenes we've already seen with Hatter as Mordred. We may have one or two of those in there that couldn't be avoided.**

**This chapter is dedicated to you. For following Hatter until the Closing Curtain. **

**Here we go…for the final time! **

Hatter stared out into the darkness, his face twisted in thought. It was the final night of Camelot. Act One had gone off without a hitch; after all with two nights previously under their belts they had gotten the hang on things. But, for some reason, Hatter felt odd about Act Two. His previous scene had felt strange, otherworldly, as if it felt as if he were to be doing it a thousand more times. It didn't feel like it was the final night. He suddenly turned to Emma, who sat in a chair opposite him, pretending to do the embroidery in her lap.

"Jenny, I feel old."

"Nonsense dear."

"It's true." Hatter said, walking over to her. "I was thinking of it this morning. I walked briskly as ever to my study and arrived much later than I expected to. The days seem longer; the nights seem shorter; and my horse seems higher."

Emma laughed. "You don't get enough fresh air, Arthur. You spend far too much time in your precious civil court."

"I can't help it. I only mean to stay for a moment, but I become absolutely transfixed. Not because I'm proud of it, which I am. But it's so exciting. Before, when disputes were settled by physical combat, I always knew the outcome, because I could tell at a glance, which was the better swordsman. But now, with a jury and a judge, you never know till the verdict. It's positively riveting."

"I know it is. But I do worry about the jury, Arthur. They don't know the parties involved. They don't really care who wins. Are you sure it's wise to trust decisions to people so impartial?"

There was a sense of urgency in her voice as she spoke. Lifting an eyebrow, Hatter walked over to her. He felt Arthur would be confused; after all, he had thought of the Round Table and probably wouldn't be able to find anything wrong with it, which was what had happened to the Queen of Hearts.

"But that's the point…"

He was interrupted however, by the sudden entrance of Daniel. His face was red with anger and annoyance and he walked briskly, Hatter turned to him.

"Damn it, Arthur!" Daniel cried, before turning to Emma in a slight bow, "Forgive me, damn it. But, _damn it_! I've just left the chaps downstairs, and I can't stand it any longer. Yours Miserably has got to speak up."

Hatter arched an eyebrow as Emma gave Daniel a slight nod and Daniel turned back to him, his face redder than it ever.

"About what, Pelly?"

"About what? Not about "what." About who, what? _Mordred_. That's what."

Hatter gave a little sigh as Emma stood from her chair, throwing her embroidery onto it as she spoke with much distain in her voice. "Oh, please, Pelly. Let's not talk about Mordred. This is the first night in a month he's not coming for dinner, and I feel as if I were going to a party."

"I'm sorry, M'am, but I must." Daniel said with another slight bow in her direction, before turning back to Hatter earnestly. "Arthur, you have to face it: you have sired a snake! And to top it all, you've set him loose to poison your own Court. Do you have any idea what foul things he's saying and doing?"

Hatter nodded. "Yes, I do."

"Oh, you do, do you?" Daniel said, much sarcasm in his voice. "Are you aware of the snaky way he's stirring up the Knights?"

"Yes. He's preying on their provincialism and trying to make them yearn for their own lands." Hatter said with another sigh, before walking over to Arthur's throne to take a seat. He felt that, with everything that was going on, that the sudden appearance of Mordred would make Arthur extremely weary.

As he sat down, he heard Daniel mutter. "Oh, you know that." Then, he added ominously, taking a step towards Hatter. "But, when he disappears every afternoon, do you have any idea what he's up to?"

"He's searching the forest for his aunt, Morgan Le Fey."

"Oh, you know that too? But I'll wager you don't know what he's saying about chivalry?"

"Yes. He's mocking it with vulgar limericks."

Hatter smiled to himself as Daniel arched his eyebrows and took another step forward. "He's mocking it with vulgar... You know all that?"

With a nod, Hatter leaned back in his throne. "Yes. And I know why. To destroy me and those I love-and make his inheritance come faster."

It was almost as if he were talking about himself. It was hard to believe that only a few months ago _he _was Mordred. In a way, he was talking about himself.

"Then why, in the holy name of heaven, don't you stop him, Arthur?" Daniel said angrily. "Arthur, you've simply got to stop thinking thoughts and think of something."

Hatter turned as Emma slowly placed her hand on his shoulder, her face grave. "Is this true, Arthur?"

"Yes, it is." Hatter said. "But we practice civil law now, and we cannot take the law hack into our own hands. Talking is not a crime, nor is walking in the woods. When he violates the law, the law shall deal with him."

"Do you mean to say, Arthur, a chap has to wait till he's killed before he can attack?"

Hatter paused for a moment. The Court of the Round Table, or at least in Arthur's eyes were just and true. Mordred was bad news, and they all knew it and yet with the system Arthur had created could he be brought to justice? "Pelly, I'm afraid I have no answer to that."

"Well, I never thought I'd hear myself say it, but, Arthur, what you need is a new idea."

"And one will be found, Pelly. You shall see." Emma said in almost a whisper, her eyes on Hatter.

Daniel turned to her. "I hope so, M'am. I hope so. I'm very worried." There was a moments pause, as he added, "You know, M'am, in many ways chasing the Beast is much easier than living with people. It's true, when you're questing, the winter chills you and the summer scorches; the wind slaps you about a bit and the rain drenches you. But it's orderly. You can count on it. And they never all get together and do it to you at the same time. But people…"

Another pause. "I'm not referring to you, M'am. Or to you, Arthur. You're…special people. That's why I stay on, I suppose."

Hatter took a step forward. "I'll tell you, Pelly, I could do with some fresh air. Let's get  
away from people tomorrow and go partridge shooting."

"I'd love that, Arthur." Daniel said as he began to briskly walk off stage. "Well, goodnight, M'am. Goodnight, Arthur."

There was a long pause, after Daniel walked off. Hatter could feel Emma's eyes on him. "Arthur, I hope you suffer no guilt about Mordred. I feel nothing about him, and neither should you. God knows you're not the first king to have one of those things running around."

"No. I do feel nothing for him. And there's no escaping the fact he's an appalling specimen."

This was a difficult scene for Hatter, he didn't have a child, as of yet. He knew that he wanted one and he knew that in time, Alice did too. However, he could not imagine in his wildest dreams of considering his child, he and Alice's child, to be an abomination. How could someone think of a child that way? No matter what.

His father had thought of him that way. Hatter felt a surge on anger at the thought. The way his father completely abandoned him, made it seem as if he hadn't cared about their family at all. No. He couldn't let his negative thoughts take control of him now. Arthur was not that type of person, Mordred had been and it had worked for him. But Arthur was the peaceful type, even when he disliked someone.

Emma smiled gently. "Amen. The one thing I can say for him is that he's bound to marry well. Everybody is above him."

"Yet, there he is, Jenny. And even if he were banished, he would remain a constant menace to the throne. And to us…Jenny, don't you wish you'd never been born a queen?"

"Oh, occasionally." Emma replied, as Hatter made for his throne to sit. "It's never being alone that bothers me most. Do you know, I have never been without someone around me in my entire life? Neither at Camilliard, or Camelot. I mean, completely, totally, solitarily alone? Sometimes I wish the castle were empty, everyone gone, no one here but me. Do you know what I would do?"

Hatter looked at her from the throne, as he believed Arthur would, his eyebrows arched, a small smile playing on his lips as she continued. "I would bolt every door, lock every window, take off all my clothes and run stark naked from room to room. I would go to the kitchen, naked; prepare my own meals, naked; do some embroidery, naked; and put on my crown, naked. And when I passed a mirror, I would stop and say: _'Ello, Jenny old thing! Nice to see you!'"_

Hatter laughed as Emma came over to sit beside him, in the corner of his eye, in the darkness Hatter could see the outline of the orchestra pick up their instruments as she did so. "But I must say, on the whole, being a queen can be…"

"Can be what?"

"A weary load. That dreadful boy. One more added burden we could quite well do without."

"Yes, but a burden we can't escape."

"Royalty never can." She paused for a moment, before turning to Hatter with curiosity. "Why is that, Arthur? Other people do. They seem to have ways and means of finding respite. What do they do? Farmers, cooks, blacksmiths…"

Music began to engulf the stage as Emma began to sing. "_What do the simple folk do to help them escape when they're blue?"_

She rose from her seat and stared off into the darkness, Hatter watched her with his eyebrow arched ever so slightly, but a smile playing on his lips. Out of all the duets Arthur had with Guenevere, this was one of his favorites. " _The shepherd who is ailing, the milkmaid who is glum, the cobbler who is wailing from nailing His thumb?"_

With a sudden burst of excitement, Emma turned and sat once again beside Hatter, looking up at him. "_When they're beset and besieged, The folk not noblessely obliged...However do they manage to shed their weary lot? Oh, what do simple folk do, we do not?"_

Hatter looked at her, as if he was thinking, the music continued as he too began to sing. "_I have been informed by those who know them well, They find, relief in quite a clever way. When they're sorely pressed, They whistle for a spell; And whistling seems to brighten up their day. And that's what simple folk do; So they say."_

"They whistle?"

"So they say."

Emma rose from her sitting position and hopefully began to whistle. Hatter, joined in. They whistled away for a moment. Finding small comfort, he stopped and looked at her hopelessly. She, too, stopped and sighed._ "What else do the simple folk do to perk up the heart and get through? The wee folk and the grown folk who wander to and fro have ways known to their own folk we throne folk don't know."_

She once again, took a step towards the audience, as Hatter rose from his throne, following her. "_When all the doldrums begin, What keeps each of them in his skin? What ancient native custom provides the needed glow? Oh, what do simple folk do? Do you know?" _

Emma turned to Hatter, as he began to sing. "_Once along the road I came upon a lad singing in a voice three times his size. When I asked him why, he told me he was sad, and singing always made his spirits rise. So that's what simple folk do, I surmise." _

"They sing?"

"I surmise."

Truth of the matter was, this wasn't the fact at all as far as Hatter knew. Never had he heard an Oyster sing because they were sad or whistle due to stress, but Hatter found it quite enjoyable to do it either way. Perhaps he could get Alice to try it out, they could start a trend…only in the comfort of their own flat of course. Either way, Hatter and Emma grasped hands and began to sing together.

"_Arise, my love! Arise, my love! Apollo's lighting the skies, my love. The meadows shine with columbine and daffodils blossom away. Hear Venus call to one and all: Come taste delight while you may. The world is bright, And all is right, And life is merry and gay…"_

Emma and Hatter stared at each other, a smile on both of their faces as Emma continued. "_What else do the simple folk do? They must have a system or two. They obviously outshine us at iurning tears to mirth; Have tricks a royal highness is minus From birth. What then I wonder do they to chase all the goblins away? They have some tribal sorc'ry you haven't mentioned yet; oh, what do simple folk do to forget?" _

Grabbing her hand, Hatter led her to the middle of the stage. "_Often I am told they dance a fiery dance, And whirl til they're completely uncontrolled. Soon the mind is blank, and all are in a trance, A vi'lent trance astounding to behold. And that's what simple folk do, So I'm told._"

A memory flashed in his mind if a night a few months ago, as he and Emma began to spin as the music swirled around them. In his mind's eye, Hatter could see he and Alice in their flat. Music was playing from the computer speakers as they began to twirl in unison. It had been their first contact in months since getting a role in Camelot. Hatter couldn't wait to be with his Alice again, feel her skin, smell her hair. They would have a lot of catching up to do.

After their spinning was done Emma, although a bit dizzy as she did so, grasped his hand. "_What else do the simple folk do to help them escape when they're Hue?"_

"_They sit around and wonder what royal folk would do. And that's what simple folk do."_

"Really?"

"I have it on the best authority."

As the music began to swell down, they looked at each other. It was as if the realization had hit Guenevere. This man that stood before her, King Arthur, was being betrayed, by herself and his best friend. Hatter could see tears swell up in her eyes and he took in a sharp breath, as they both ended the song, hand in hand.

"_Yes, that's what simple folk do."_

They stared at each other forlornly, suspended in that moment as the lights dimmed. Hatter was thinking of Jack again as immediately, they headed for the exit to prepare for the next scene. As she passed, Hatter could hear Emma sniff and wipe her eyes. This scene was, or at least it seemed like it was always real for Emma, although Hatter was never sure why. As he passed her, he gently patted her on the back in reassurance as he headed for his dressing room.

For the next scene, Hatter was to wear his red vest the one he wore in the very beginning of the play. Throwing off his purple cape and crown he began to rush as the music for the next scene began. He wasn't in it, but it was incredibly short and young Sally was in it.

It was the scene that Hatter had almost dreaded as Mordred. The Fairy Scene. Now, that he was no longer the character however it was actually quite entertaining to watch. The new Mordred was a very good sport about the way Sally hung onto him and Katherine had been right that it was hilarious.

In a matter of minutes, Hatter found himself backstage. Daniel was there as well, ready for their next scene, which came right after the Fairy Scene. He held a bow and arrow in his hands. From the stage they could hear Jacob, the new Mordred stay speak loudly with a phony British accent.

"Then why should you be denied it, when all I ask is to play a prank on King Arthur?"

Jacob's interpretation of Mordred, was the farthest from Hatter's ever had been. While Hatter had used his own emotions to create a character, and told that he gave the character a slippery yet sinister feel, Jacob did the exact opposite. He made Mordred seem like a flimsy slimy character.

Hatter wasn't exactly sure how he felt about the new Mordred. They worked well together obviously and Jacob did do a good job, the obvious reasons why Katherine chose him in the first place…yet Hatter felt a loss as he watched him perform.

Looking out onto the stage, he could see Jacob standing beside Rachel. Sally and the other fairies hung on his shoulders and pulled at his velvet green vest, trying to get at the candy he had sticking out from the pockets. Hatter smiled to himself. Ah, the memories of the infamous Fairy Scene.

Rachel stood next to him, as if completely oblivious to what her precious court was doing. Her long mousy hair was down, and her forest green silk gown flowed delicately behind her as she quivered around the stage giving her a woodsy feel. She looked as if she were about to burst. "King Arthur? Oh, _Wart_! I used to watch him from my invisible window out walking with Merlyn. He was a dear little boy. No. I do not wish to harm him."

Hatter watched as Jacob lifted an eyebrow. "No harm." He said eerily as he took a step towards Rachel. His expression would have sent shivers down Hatter's spine, had it not been for young Sally gripping his back, reaching for the candy in his left pocket. She grabbed a lollipop as he suddenly twisted around as if to swat her away and began to lick it gleefully as the scene continued, smiling at the other members of the court who looked forlornly at the piece of candy.

Rachel stared at the lollipop longingly for a moment, before snapping back to Jacob. "You're the son of a wicked mother, Mordred, and I know you're up to mischief."

"Oh, No mischief at all. Just a _delicious_ little game that will amuse you. Arthur is out hunting. Lure him to your forest, and detain him for the night."

"_Detain him for the night_? No. Such games are for the afternoon. At night, I eat. And I'm more ravenous every minute."

Jacob seemed to be getting impatient. "Please, dear Aunt? Make him drowsy and build a wall around him? The invisible kind you do so well."

Hatter felt Daniel tap on his shoulder, nodding gesturing towards the other end of the stage as Rachel said suspiciously, "How do you know I build invisible walls?"

Making a quick glance toward the stage one last time, the two men headed towards the back, to sneak behind the curtain to get to the other side for their next scene. They heard Jacob say, "Mummy told me. Please, dear Aunt?" As they started out slowly.

This was difficult. It was crowded behind the large black curtain and a tight fit if they didn't want to touch it. The black curtain was visible by all, no matter what scene was being preformed in the play. One false move and the entire audience would know that they were there. They had to move slowly yet swiftly.

Hatter kept close to the wall as the scene continued. He heard Rachel say, "No! I will not harm little Wart. Court!" Music began, as she added. "Farewell, nasty Mordred!"

Taking another step, he heard Jacob begin the song. "_Enough candy I'll bring to furnish a new wing."_

Hatter didn't need to see the two to know what was going on. Rachel would hesitate, as if tempted, then with courageous resolve she would continue her departure. She did it every time.

As the scene played in his head, he heard Jacob add, "_Masses and masses of gummy molasses_."

Hatter knew that Rachel would be stopping at this point. The thought of it would seem to bewitch her as Jacob continued. "_Fudge by the van! Fresh marzipan!" _

They were halfway across the stage now, moving slowly but steadily as to not attract attention. Hatter knew that at this point, Jacob would outstretch his hand and Rachel's defenses would crumble, and she would reach for it. "_All yours it will be if you'll build me a wee little wall."_

Then, the two would begin to waltz. Rachel would have a disgusted look on her face when she sang, "_Do you promise, you devil, It's all on the level?"_

Jacob would smile devilishly as they twirled around on stage. "_I solemnly swear it's a harmless affair."  
_

"_On your honor, dear lad?"_

"_Honor? You're mad!"_

Rachel would then pull away from him, and turn away. "_Ye gods, but you're low! My answer is "No," And that's all!"_

They were almost to the other side of the stage now…it was within reach. Rachel would be starting to walk of stage again, as Jacob called out earnestly, "_A basket or two of marshmallow goo… A licorice stick that takes two years to lick…"_

Finally! The other side of the stage! Hatter followed Daniel's outline in the semi-darkness as out of the corner of his eye, he could see Rachel turn back to Jacob, her eyes wide. "_Where's the King? Bring the King! I shall build him a wall three and seven feet tall! I'll hurry and mix some invisible bricks."_

"_Oh. Queen! You're a joy_!"

"_Be gone, nasty boy!" _

Jacob bowed and exited the opposite side of the stage gleefully as suddenly a stuffed bird fell directly in front of Rachel. She picked it up to examine it for a moment, before suddenly running behind a tree. Daniel walked onto the stage with Hatter close behind.

"Where's the bird, Arthur?" Daniel asked, looking behind a tree stump. "Where's the bird? You hit it. I saw it. Where did it go?"

Hatter however, ignored him, staring off into the mass of trees for the set, a confused expression on his face. "Strange, Pelly. I've never seen this forest before. I used to play in this valley when I was a boy. But it was like a meadow. There were no trees."

"Nature, old boy. Things pop up, you know. Where's the bird?"

"Sh-h-h." Hatter hissed, holding a finger to his lips, out of the corner of his eye, he could see Rachel peeking her head out of her hiding place, his cue. "It's awfully quiet around here, isn't it?"

Walking over to the tree stump, Hatter sat down. "Not a leaf rustling, not a whisper in the woods. It makes one rather drowsy. Would you care to rest a bit?"

"No thank you, old man. I want to find that bird, what? I mean, if you hit a bird with an arrow, it ought to fall down like a gentleman."

Hatter watched as Daniel exited, muttering to himself. He yawned, trying to make himself seem as sleepy as possible. "Merlyn, do you remember how often we walked this valley when I was a boy? Do you know what I miss of those days? Not my youth. My innocence. My innocence…"

He folded his arms and shut his eyes ever so slightly, faking sleep. Almost immediately, Rachel and the Fairies appeared from behind the trees, carrying imaginary bricks. In balletic pantomime, flying back and forth across the stage with more and more bricks, they constructed a high invisible wall around the sleeping Hatter. He watched out of the slits of his eyes, as Rachel had to stop Sally a few times from pretending to throw one on top of him. He smiled to himself slightly; one of Katherine's many ideas based on Sally's eccentric nature. When it was complete, Rachel smiled to herself before pretending to pat the wall all around, to make certain it was perfect. Finding it to her pleasure, she disappeared, followed by her Court.

"Arthur?" Daniel called from backstage, as Hatter pretended to jolt awake with a start. "The bird's hopeless, Arthur. Let's push on."

Hatter however, ran his head through his hair. He looked around curiously, as if sensing a change. "Where am I? What's happened? How long have I been asleep? Pelly, we must get back to the castle. I have strange feelings."

"Right. If you want." Daniel said with a shrug as he started to walk away.

Hatter rose from his seat and began to follow. This part was difficult, having to pretend a invisible wall was in front of him. A few giggles murmured from the audience as Hatter pretended to collide with the wall, an orchestra member adding a _thunk! _sound with a piece of wood for good measure. He had never run into a wall, or an invisible one at that to his knowledge, but Hatter assumed it hurt quite a lot. He clutched his head in agony as he "felt" the wall with his opposite hand.

"Well, old man, are you coming or aren't you?"

"I'm trapped!" Hatter cried, feeling the wall feverishly, as if looking for an opening.

"I say, Arthur. Who are you waving at? What's wrong with you?" Daniel said, coming towards before running into the wall himself, the same _thunk! _heard. "I say! What is this? It feels like a wall! But I don't see it."

"It is a wall."

"Where did it come from? How did it get here?"

"Morgan Le Fey. Morgan Le Fey! Is this your sorcery?" A new memory flashed in his mind, one that had never come across him before. He was in Wonderland, Alice had been captured and he had gone to save her…only to be captured by March. They had been separated and Hatter thrown into a small white room where he could barely move before being interrogated. He had been trapped. Helpless himself. Unable to get out or save the person he cared about. He felt a sickening feeling in his stomach. Is this how Arthur was feeling?

"Pelly, get back to the castle. Find Lance. Find Jenny. Warn them to be careful."

Daniel stared at him, as if he'd said something preposterous. "You _know_, Arthur?"

"Do as I say, Pelly!" Hatter cried feverishly. If it had been Alice, Hatter would had definitely wanted Daniel to get a move on, even if she would be with Jack. His stomach plummeted again as he watched the man run off the stage as it turned into darkness.

Hatter fled off the stage. There was another costume change, and he had to get his armor ready too. Not only that he had to help everyone get ready for Guenevere's execution scene.

He could hear the scene between Lancelot and Mordred begin to start as he threw open the dressing room door and threw off his vest and shirt and throwing it to the ground. What was Alice up to tonight? She had told him she couldn't come to the final performance for she and a few girlfriends had made plans. Hatter hadn't minded, but anything involving Guenevere made him think of her…and his next scene most definitely involved her, the Execution Scene. Hatter felt shivers go down his spine as he thought of it. No. He couldn't think about it now. They had two whole scenes before it and Hatter had plenty of time to relax. He walked over to his closet of costumes and began fumbling through them; he needed his purple tunic and cape again.

He came out a few moments later, armor in his arms and fixing his crown. Rick stood nearby, waiting for them. Hatter handed them to him with a slight smile as he started to head towards the stage. The song Fie On Goodness should have just finished, he wanted to get ready for his next scene.

Emma, in a white loosely flowing gown, sat at her dressing table on the stage, slowly brushing her long hair as the orchestra played softly. Kris entered quietly from the opposite end of the stage. Hatter could see clearly that he wore no armor, only a dagger in his belt. He watched helpless as Kris looked around the bedroom as he entered, as if seeing it for the first time, which in truth he was.

"Jenny…?" Kris called out in a hushed tone, almost fearfully. One of the things that Hatter noticed as the play would go on, was that Kris would slowly drop the French accent until only a hint of it was left.

"Jenny, I was in the yard…I couldn't sleep...I saw the light in your window...I knew you were alone...I tried to stay away...I tried, but I... Jenny..." Hatter watched as Kris took her in his arms and they embraced passionately. Hatter's heart skipped a beat. Why did all of the Lancelot and Guenevere scenes put a sickening feeling into his stomach? No. This wasn't Alice. This was a play. An emotional play for him, but only a play.

Yet, he got a slight hint of satisfaction as he watched Emma pull away. "Did anyone see you?"

"No one. The castle is dark. I was careful. Jenny, don't be afraid."

"But I am afraid."

"I swear we're alone. No one saw me enter. Jenny, there's nothing to fear. Arthur won't be back until…"

There was silence, as Emma stared up into his eyes, as if hurt. Kris let go, and murmured. "Forgive me, Jenny."

"We're not alone, are we, Lance?" Emma whispered sadly, as Kris once again taking her up in his arms.

"We are, we are."

"We're not. Here you are, with your arms around me, and the first thing we think of is him."

Hatter cleared his throat uncomfortably, as Kris said, "But you love me, Jenny."

"Of course, I do. And I always shall. Night after night I've thought of you here and wished for it with all my being. And suddenly, we're less alone than ever."

"But why?"

Emma had turned away from him at this point, her arms crossed and body hunched over, as if trying not to cry. "Now that the people are gone, can't you see the shadow between us? It's wider than the sea. It fills the room. Perhaps it would have been better if we had never said a word to each other at all."

She still refused to look at him, as music slowly began. "_I loved you once in silence, and mis'ry was all I knew. Trying so to keep my love from showing, All the while not knowing you loved me too. Yes, loved me in lonesome silence; your heart filed with dark despair… Thinking love would flame in you forever, and I'd never, never Know the flame was there." _

Hatter felt a hand on his shoulder, but he couldn't look away. Why was it that all Camelot songs seemed to apply to him in some way or another? Although he had not known it then, he had loved Alice the moment he had seen her in her very wet dress. But at that point it had been futile. She had been dating that Jack Chase guy…later Jack Heart, which had made the situation worse. Hatter could distinctively remember the moment he had felt the twinge. When he knew he would never have her. That night by the fire.

_Jack's a lucky guy…_

Hatter felt his breath catch as Emma turned back toward Kris, and ran into his arms.

"_Then one day we cast away our secret longing; The raging tide we held inside would hold no more. The silence at last was broken! We flung wide our prison door. Ev'ry joyous word of love was spoken…And now there's twice as much grief, Twice the strain for us; Twice the despair, Twice the pain for us As we had known before." _

"David?"

It was Rick. "David, we need you're help with your throne, you know, move it for the next scene?"

Hatter nodded as he followed Rick his mind elsewhere. He could hear the scene continue as they headed towards the back of the stage, where his throne lay unseen by the audience, Excalibur sitting on top of it.

"Jenny," Kris cried desperately. "It's because we're 'ere, 'ere in Camelot that everything is so wretched."

"No, Lance."

"Jenny, come away with me. To Joyous Gard. Let us 'ave it open and above board at last."

They lifted the throne together as the scene continued onward. Hatter gripped the sides with gritted teeth as they did so. Moving ever so slightly. Inch by inch. They couldn't be seen by the audience.

"Lance, I've told you a thousand times I shall never leave Arthur. Ever. Now, let us say no more about it."

The throne was slowly heading towards where it needed to go as the scene continued. Hatter only took a brief moment to look up and watch as Kris threw his hands up, raging. "But this agonizing torment! Day after day, year after year. Would God I 'ad your talent for acceptance, your invincible English calm!"

"Oh, the insensitivity of sensitive men!" Emma snapped, obviously turning on Kris. "Always suffering so much they can suffer nothing for others. You think _you're_ the only one in torment. I'm just as tortured, just as anguished as you. But what would you have us do to this man we both love? Run away! Leave him! Make him publicly miserable! Force him to declare war on you, where either one of you, if not both, would be killed, as well as hundreds of others. What sort of heart-breaking solution is that?"

There was silence between them, as the group reached their destination. The throne seemed to be getting heavier every second, but they couldn't let go. Not yet anyway. In the silence, dropping the throne on the stage would obviously attract attention from the performance. They had made that mistake once already. They waited. Hatter shifted uncomfortably, until…

"Forgive me, Jenny. I shall never mention it again. I swear. Nor shall I come to you again. I swear that, too."

"Lance?" Emma said in almost a whisper as they set the throne down, finally, then turned of their heels and headed backstage. Only Hatter remained on the darkened part of the stage, waiting. "Have we no more tender words to say to each other?"

"_The silence at last was broken! We flung wide our prison door. Ev'ry joyous word of love was spoken…And after all had bееп said, here we are, my love, silent once more and not far, my love…from where we were be…"_

They were at a loss for words as she ran into his arms, sobbing. Hatter could feel his heart sink as he watched them from the darkness. His heart ached for them. For Lancelot and Guenevere. Two Star Crossed Lovers. Fated to forever love each other but destined never to be happy. There was a time he thought he would be just like them.

"Lancelot…" A slimy yet sinister voice whispered from the shadows opposite Hatter. "Don't touch your dagger."

Hatter watched as Kris whirled around, Jacob coming into the stage lights. He smirked at them both, his sword drawn, five knights following behind him.

"I accuse you of treason, and order you both to stand trial for your crime. Surrender in the name of the King."

Hatter went towards his throne and sat down, waiting for the lights to come up on his side of the stage. He watched as Kris walked toward Jacob as if to surrender. Then suddenly he leapt forward and snatched the sword from Jacob's hand. For a second the Knights seemed to be too startled to move. Jacob shrank away in terror. Kris, with gritted teeth backed up, his sword held high menacingly, and with his free hand, reached for the outstretched hand of the Queen. The Knights spread out slowly to surround him, waiting for him to make the first move. Hatter could feel his breath catch slightly as he tensed his muscles, the rest of the cast gathering backstage in the corner of his eye. Here it was. Guenevere's execution scene.

Kris and the Knights seemed suspended, never taking their eyes off of each other as Kris whispered. "If I escape, I shall come and rescue you. If I am killed, send word to Joyous Gard. Someone will come."

Then suddenly, he leapt forward as the rest of the stage lit up. The entire Camelot Cast ran on stage, as Kris and the Knights began battle. Hatter however, stared ahead, his face as grim as it could possibly be and the chorus burst into song.

"_Out of the room, down the hall, through the yard, to the wall;_ _slashing fiercely, left and right, Lance escaped them and took flight. On a day, dark and drear, came to trial Guenevere. Ruled the jury for her shame She be sentenced to the flame."_

Hatter watched, his jaw set tightly, as Rick stepped forward and pulled Emma from the scuffle and led her backstage. Kris had jumped off to the other side of the stage and was lost from view.

"_As the dawn filled the sky, on the day she would die, There was wonder far and near: Would the King burn Guenevere? Would the King let her die? Would the King let her die? There was wonder far and near: Would the King burn Guenevere?"_

Suddenly, Jacob was by Hatter's side. "Arthur! What a magnificent dilemma! Let her die, your life is over; let her live, your life's a fraud." He smiled at Hatter slyly, a terribly cruel and wicked smile. "Which will it be, Arthur? Do you kill the Queen or kill the law?"

Hatter looked up into the wicked face and shrunk back into his throne, as the script told him to do but either way his heart beat quickly. He could see some of the chorus members begin to bring out the stake that they were to tie Guenevere to. In the back of his mind he could see Alice in the Gaming Room with all the other Oysters. Her father had just been shot and that strange man with the strange neck decoration was pointing a gun at her. Hatter had responded immediately…but what if he hadn't? What if he had been too late?

"Treason has been committed." Hatter said, his jaw tightening as he looked out toward the audience. "The jury has ruled! Let justice be done."

"_She must burn. She must burn. Spoke the King: She must burn. And the moment now was here for the end of Guenevere." _

Emma entered, followed by a priest carrying a cross, and two soldiers to guard her. She approached Hatter, paused and looked up at him. He slowly turned and looked at her in return. Their eyes held a moment. Hatter found himself holding his breath as she continued, a dead Alice in his mind's eye. He could see her body sprawled out by her father's. He hadn't made it in time…he hadn't saved her. A tear fell down Hatter's cheek. Emma walked toward the stake and as she was tied to it, she looked over at him. But Arthur had crumbled inside, and so had Hatter.

"_Slow her walk, bowed her head, to the stake she was led..."_

A herald had come up to the opposite end of the stage. He called to Hatter. "The Queen is at the stake, Your Majesty. Shall I signal the torch?"

However, Hatter ignored him as he stared off into the darkness. He swallowed as the herald called again. "Your Majesty…Your Majesty…!"

"_In his grief, so alone from the King came a moan…"_

"I can't!" Hatter cried his voice cracking slightly. "I can't! I can't let her die!"

"Well," Jacob said, pure venom in his eyes behind his evil smirk. "You're human after all, aren't you, Arthur? Human and helpless."

"_Then suddenly earth and sky were dazed by a pounding roar. And suddenly through the dawn an army began to pour. And lo! Ahead the army, holding aloft his spear, came Lancelot to save his dear Guenevere!" _

Kris had appeared, with knights wearing his similar armor. The Knights of the Round Table turned towards then, and battle began. Hatter rose from his throne and took a few steps forward, as if watching. He was barely aware that Jacob followed him.

"Lance!" Hatter cried out. "Lance! Come save her."

"Shall I signal the torch, Your Majesty?" The herald cried desperately, moments after however, one of Lancelot's knights had approached him and stabbed him. As he fell to the ground, Kris ran up to the wooden stake, and began to struggle with Emma's bonds.

Hatter only had a moment to look, before Rick had rushed forward, blocking his view. "Arthur, an army from Joyous Gard is storming the gate. Shall I double the guard?"

Drawing in a sharp breath, Hatter shook his head dazedly as Rick let out cry of anger as he grabbed his sword and went to join the fight. "Arthur, you're inviting a massacre!"

Hatter ignored him. Breathing heavily. A new image was in his head. One that had never truly existed and never could have existed. He was Arthur, in Camelot. It was the Knights of the Round Table verses the Knights of Joyous Gard. Hatter was whacking away with Excalibur, fending them off. Taking a moment, he had looked up to a large hill and could see Jack. He wore Lancelot's armor and was riding a magnificent white horse. Alice sat behind him clutching his waist, wearing Guenevere's dress. He had let them go. She was safe.

"Save her, Lance! Save her!"

"_By the score fell the dead, as the yard turned to red. Countless numbers felt his spear as he rescued Guenevere."_

Hatter looked over to the scene again. Kris had untied Emma and they were now making a hasty exit toward the back. Chorus members dressed as Knights, both for the Round Table and Joyous Gard were beginning to fall by each other's hands one by one.

There was a wicked cackle beside him that made him jump. Jacob stood next to him again, watching the same scene with obvious excitement. "Sweet heaven, what a sight! Can you see it from there, Arthur? Can you see your goodly Lancelot murdering your goodly Knights?" "

A pause, as Jacob circled around Hatter, whispering close to his ear. "Your table is cracking, Arthur. Can you hear the timbers split?"

Hatter felt his breath catch again. This was the reason why Katherine had chosen Jacob to replace him as Mordred. Despite his making Mordred seem a tad flimsy at times, Jacob was incredible at being solely and purely evil when needed. Every performance he knew how to make Hatter feel complete anguish. It was truly real.

"Merlyn!" Hatter called out, "Merlyn, make me a hawk. Let me fly away from here!"

Jacob laughed with mad glee. "What a failure you are, Arthur! How did you think you could survive without being as ruthless as I?"

"Merlyn! Merlyn!"

"_In that dawn, in that gloom, More than love met its doom. In the dying candles' gleam came the sundown of a dream."_

Rick stepped forward from the remains of the scuffle. He kneeled at Hatter's feet. "Most of the guard is killed, Arthur, and over eighty Knights. They're heading for the Channel. I'll make ready the army to follow. Arthur, we want revenge!" As he turned to leave, he allowed the audience to see that the opposite side of his face was covered in blood. Hatter could have sworn he heard a few members of the audience gasp in shock.

"Oh, God, is it all to start again?" Hatter said taking the center of the stage as the chorus members began to drag out the dead. "Is my almighty fling at peace to be over so soon? Am I back where I began? Am I? Am I?"

Jacob laughed manically as he left Hatter, alone in the middle of the stage. Five of the surviving soldiers entered with the Hatter's armor. He stood like a prisoner being shackled while they fastened his armor to him as the chorus ended the song and the stage lights began to burn a dark blood red.

"_Guenevere, Guenevere! In that dim, mournful year, saw the men she held most dear go to war for Guenevere. Guenevere! Guenevere! Guenevere! Guenevere! Saw the men she held most dear go to -war for Guenevere! Guenevere! Guenevere! Guenevere!" _

Then suddenly, Hatter was quite alone, standing on the reddened stage. He drew a breath as he heard Kris call. "Jenny. 'e's 'ere!"

Hatter turned on a dime as they approached. Kris wore his armor, ready for battle and Emma wore a black cloak. He met them half way.

"Was either of you injured in the escape?"

Kris shook his head. "Untouched, Arthur."

Emma took a step towards Hatter, letting the clock fall from her face. "Arthur, we want to return with you to England. No matter the cost, we must try to put things right."

"This war will do 'orrible 'arm to the Table, Arthur. We must stop it before it grows."

"Let us pay for what we have done."

"At the stake?" Hatter asked, turning away from them and walking back to the center. "No! I won't take you back. I shan't let you return. For what end? Justice? They've forgotten justice. They want revenge! Revenge! That most worthless of causes. It's too late, Lance. The Table is dead. It exists no more."

"What?"

Hatter looked back to them. "Over half the Knights were killed in the yard. Mordred has fled to Orkney, taking some with him. I suppose to organize an army against me. The rest are waiting in their tents, itching for dawn, cheerful to be at war."

He suddenly felt very old. All those years of trying to put an end to the barbaric ways, to be destroyed in seconds and completely forgotten. "It's the old uncivilized days come back again. Those dreadful days we all tried to put to sleep forever."

"It's your wish, Arthur, that this dread battle go on?" Kris asked.

"No, it's not my wish, Lance. But I can think no longer what to do but ride the tide of events. Oh, what a blight thinking is. How I wish I'd never tried to think at all. All we've been through, for nothing but an idea! Something you cannot taste or touch, smell or feel; without substance, life, reality or memory."

Trumpets sounded as the three of them looked around. Hastily, Hatter gestured toward them. "The charade begins soon. You must go back to Joyous Gard."

Kris shook his head. "Jenny is not at Joyous Gard, Arthur. She stays with the 'oly sisters. Is there nothing to be done?"

"Nothing, but play out the game and leave the decisions to God. Now go."

Kris went to Hatter. They quietly and solemnly clasped arms as Hatter nodded to him stiffly. As they let go, Kris paused for a moment, and looked at Emma. Then, without a word, exited quickly, leaving Hatter and Emma on the stage alone.

"You must go, too, Jenny."

However, Emma approached him. "I know. So often in the past, Arthur, I would look up in your eyes, and there I would find forgiveness. Perhaps one day in the future it shall be there again. But I won't be with you. I won't know it."

Hatter's breath caught as she ran to him, sobbing. They held each other for a moment, as she sobbed. As he and Emma broke apart, she looked into his eyes, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "Oh, Arthur, Arthur, I see what I wanted to see."

"Goodbye, my love…" Hatter said as he kissed the top of her head gently. They held hands for a moment, before she let go and took a path opposite from Kris. "…My dearest love."

He stood in silence. Thinking of Alice. During this entire experience they had felt a lot, fought a lot and made up a lot. Now, in a few minutes it would all be over. For good. Hatter wasn't sure if the tears in his eyes were from happiness to be with Alice again, or sorrow that the experience was all about to be over.

There was a rustling on the opposite end of the stage from the curtains. Hatter turned toward them as a head popped out. "Who's there? Come out, I say!"

Slowly, timidly a young boy, about the age of fourteen came out. He was dressed as a peasant and his flaxen colored hair stood out in different places, and he carried what looked like a very old bow and arrow. This was Aaron, the son of a friend of Katherine's whom Hatter had only met a few weeks before during dress rehearsal.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty." The boy said as if frightened. "I was searching for the Sergeant of Arms and got lost. I didn't wish to disturb you."

"Who are you, boy?" Hatter asked, his expression grim as he motioned for the boy to approach. "Where did you come from? You ought to be in bed. Are you a page?"

"I stowed away on one of the boats, Your Majesty." Aaron explained. "I came to fight for the Round Table. I'm very good with the bow."

Aaron lifted his bow for Hatter to see. Katherine had found it at an antique store and had been very strict with Aaron not to play with it. He hadn't listened. Hatter took it from the boy and examined the taped part that had broken off a few nights before.

"And do you think you will kill people with this bow of yours?"

"Oh yes, Milord. A great many, I hope."

"Suppose they kill you?" Hatter asked, handing him back the broken bow.

"Then I shall be dead, Milord." Aaron said matter-of-factly. "But I don't intend to be dead. I intend to be a Knight."

Hatter paused. "A Knight…?"

Aaron nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, Milord. Of the Round Table."

Arching an eyebrow, Hatter took a step towards the boy. He felt that, after the destruction of the Round Table it was odd to hear such a statement. "When did you decide upon this nonexistent career? Was your village protected by Knights when you were a small boy? Was your mother saved by a Knight? Did your father serve a Knight?"

"Oh, no, Milord. I had never seen a Knight until I stowed away. I only know of them. The stories people tell."

"From the stories people tell you wish to be a Knight?" Hatter asked. He paused for a moment, then asked. "What do you think you know of the Knights and the Round Table?"

"I know everything, Milord. Might for right! Right for right! Justice for all! A Round Table where all Knights would sit. Everything!"

He crossed over to the opposite end of the stage in thought, leaving young Aaron in the middle by himself. Might for right. Right for right. Justice for all…All were Arthur's ambitions that were to never be realized. Forgotten in time. Yet, here was this young peasant boy who knew about it all. He paused for a moment, as if thinking and then, had a wonderful idea. Hatter turned on his heel and headed towards the boy, and approached him at a fast pace, much to the boy's sudden surprise.

"Come here, my boy. Tell me your name."

"It is Tom, Milord." Aaron said.

"Where is your home?"

"In Warwick, Milord."

"Then listen to me, Tom of Warwick. You will not fight in the battle, do you hear?"

Hatter watched as the boy's hopeful face turned to disappointment. "Yes, Milord."

"You will run behind the lines and hide in a tent till it is over. Then you will return to your home in England. Alive. To grow up and grow old. Do you understand?"

The boy nodded.

"And for as long as you live you will remember what I, the King, tell you; and you will do as I command."

Hatter watched as Aaron, nodded, the disappointment gone. "Yes, Milord."

Hatter smiled, as the music began. For the last time. "_Each evening from December to December before you drift to sleep upon your cot, Think back on all the tales that you remember Of Camelot."_

Together, they walked toward the front of the stage. Hatter placed his hand on the boy's shoulder and leaned down and looked at him._  
_

"_Ask ev'ry person if he's heard the story; And tell it strong and clear if he has not: That once there was a fleeting wisp of glory Called Camelot."_

Hatter faced the audience, smiling with a wide grin. "_Camelot! Camelot! Now say it out with love and joy!"_

The boy smiled along with Hatter, and burst out as loud as he could. "Camelot! Camelot!"

Hatter nodded enthusiastically, and placed his arm over the boy's shoulder. He gestured out to the audience, staring into the nothingness, imagining Camelot's grand castle looming over green hills. At peace."Yes, Camelot, my boy…"

The lights had changed from dark red, to a light blue. Out of the corner of his eye, Hatter could see the cast gather together backstage. He continued to sing.

"_Where once it never rained till after sundown; By eight a.m. the morning fog had flown…Don't let it be forgot that once there was a spot for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot…"_

Daniel entered. He was dressed for battle and carried Excalibur in his arms along with his own. "Arthur…?"

"Give me the sword." Hatter said to him feverishly, his hand outstretched as he approached. Once he had it, Hatter turned back to Aaron. "Kneel, Tom. Kneel."

The boy did.

"With this sword, Excalibur, I knight you Sir Tom of Warwick." Hatter said, touching the tip of the sword on each of the boy's shoulders. "And I command you to return home and carry out my orders."

Aaron rose from his kneeling position, beaming broadly. "Yes, Milord!"

Daniel approached and placed his hand on Hatter's shoulder.

"What are you doing, Arthur?" he asked Hatter uncomfortably. "You have a battle to fight."

"Battle?" Hatter asked, looking at him smiling, before turning back to Aaron. "I've won my battle, Pelly. Here's my victory!"

The music swelled around the stage as Hatter nodded to Aaron. "What we did will be remembered. You'll see, Pelly. Now, run, Sir Tom! Behind the lines!"

The boy nodded and ran across the stage, out into the audience, he ran as quickly as he could down the isle and into the darkness.

Hatter watched him. "Run, Sir Tom! Run boy! Through the lines!"

Daniel watched too, with a confused expression on his face. "Who is that, Arthur?" He asked once the boy was completely out of sight.

"One of what we all are, Pelly. Less than a drop in the great blue motion of the sunlit sea." Hatter gripped the sword tightly and turned to Daniel excitedly. "But it seems some of the drops sparkle, Pelly. Some of them do sparkle! Run, boy!"

The two kings stood in silence for a moment, before Hatter, still smiling nodded to him. Together and in step, they turned to exit as the curtains drew to a close behind them.

XXXXXXXXXX

Hatter stood, wearing his armor in the middle of the hall in the theater. The show was done. It was done forever. Never again would he step upon that stage as King Arthur. Ever.

But he couldn't be sad about it. At least he couldn't seem sad. Honestly, he didn't know how he felt but he he knew that he had to plaster on a smile, no matter how much his cheeks hurt. Hundreds of people stepped forward to congratulate him and tell him well done. A few younger audience members even asked for his autograph and gushed over how well he had apparently done.

Hatter took it all in stride with a smile, but inside he felt numb. He wasn't sure if it had hit him yet. It was over. It was truly over. It felt unreal, like he was in denial. This would be the last time in this costume, in this theater. It seemed like it was just another preformance, like he would come back tomorrow...but he wouldn't.

Suddenly, he felt as if a giant bolder had cashed into him from behind, or at least a small person. Sally stood behind him, smiling widely hugging him tightly and blushing.

"David!" She said happily. "David look who I found!"

Behind her was Alice. She carried a big bouquet of flowers and was smiling widely as Hatter stared at her dumbstruck . "I thought you weren't coming tonight?"

"And miss _this_?" She asked him, handing him the bouquet. "Not in a million years! You did really well tonight Hatter. This was your best performance yet."

'You did great!" A voice from behind said. Hatter turned around to come face to face with Adam. He looked a lot healthier since Hatter had seen him last, although perhaps a bit thinner than last time. He walked beside Katherine who was smiling almost as much as him.

"How are you feeling?" Hatter asked as they shook hands.

Adam shrugged. "I'm feeling better. More so now that I've seen the performance, I couldn't have asked for a better understudy David. You killed it."

"Thanks." Hatter said, putting his arm over Alice's shoulder as she leaned into him. "It's hard to believe it's over though!"

"Actually, it's far from over." Katherine said to them. "In about a month I'll be holding auditions for the musical "Annie". It's completely different from "Camelot" all together; but nonetheless it's still a great show with great music and scenes. It would be really great if you were involved somehow. You interested?"

Hatter nodded, interested. Maybe, just maybe this experience wouldn't have to be over! Prehaps, he could do it again. Another musical, another character. A whole new opportunity. Then again, what about Alice? What about all of her sacrifices, all of the fights...would she be willing put put up with them all over again? He smiled at Katherine as he took Alice's hand. Either way, Hatter felt content. He was with his Guenevere, and she wasn't going anywhere. No matter what. It was because of Alice that he had gotten this wonderful experience. He looked at her, eyebrows arched as if asking permission silently. She smiled at him her pale blue shining as she nodded.

Hatter felt a surge of joy as looked at Alice, his eyes bright and happy as he leaned in and gave her a slow passionate kiss before turning to Katherine a smile plastered on his face.

"What do you think?"

**A/N:**

**It's hard to believe that this story is over…someone pinch me. It doesn't seem real. Thank you all so much for reading this far and pulling through the hiatus and the time I was doing Our Town and all of my rants about how busy I apparently was. It means so much that you took the time to read this. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.**

**Oh! If you're interested in the musical that inspired this story you can go to my profile. There you will find a link to some actual footage of my high school's performance of Camelot including Kristian (who played Lancelot and the inspiration behind the character Kris) singing C'est Moi **_**just for you**_**! Well…sort of. My sister recorded it while they were backstage during one of our performances.**

**Also on my profile you can see another clip of Seven Deadly Virtues. It's **_**the clip of the night I thought of Hatter's Hobby...if you look closely you should be able to tell it's formulating in my mind as I do the scene myself. **_


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